Phineas' Biggest Idea Ever
by KicsterAsh
Summary: High School is no sweat for stepbrothers Phineas and Ferb, as long as they're inventing something. But when something unexpected occurs, past memories and fears put Phineas' imagination and confidence to the test.
1. Chapter 1

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**_ Okay, I haven't given up the Danny Phantom stuff, people. I'm waiting for the cover to be completed before starting to publish that as well. All credit for the cover art of this story ( _/d360nmc ) _other than the lineart of the pic, goes to mah good friend Clau 333 You know who you are!_

_Anyway, this is my first PnF fanfic. It is also being posted on deviantart because these stories are relatively shorter than the Danny Phantom ones. And probably not as suspenseful, considering Phineas isn't half ghost XDDDD_

_So anyway, on with the story!_

* * *

"Bo-oyyys! Time to get up for scho-ool!"

The red-headed fifteen-year-old snickered beneath his bed covers as he continued to tinker with another invention. "Slow-mo, Mom; we've been up since six thirty," he muttered under his breath, amused by the fact that his mother had no idea how long her sons had been up.

That was how most days began at the Flynn-Fletcher residence. Ever since he had been a boy, Phineas Flynn would be up at the crack of dawn, coming up with a new idea or a new invention. It had been a favourite pass-time of his all his life.

"Boys! I am not going to repeat it! Get out of bed!"

Phineas giggled childishly as he sat under the tent he had created with his bed covers. His orange pyjamas were still over his body, even though he had gotten rid of his socks halfway through the night like he normally did. Sleeping soundly beside him was Perry, his pet platypus. Although the platypus often moved from Phineas' bed to Ferb's during the night, he always finished in his original owner's, considering he had been with the teenager since his earliest days.

"Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher! Get out of bed at once!"

"You heard your mother, boys! Hurry or you'll miss the bus!"

Phineas sniggered again until the sound of his covers being grabbed caught his attention. Before he could look up, his tent's roof was pulled away from the bed, knocking over the rod the fifteen-year-old had put up for support. He gasped. "Hey!" His exclamation aroused Perry, who snorted and shook his head rapidly.

Linda Flynn, Phineas' mother, was leaning over him, smiling cleverly. She raised an eyebrow while holding up the blanket in her hand. "You've been playing me like a flute all morning, haven't you?" she said sardonically.

Phineas winced as he adjusted his eyes to the sunlight and then smiled while baring his white teeth innocently, making his mother laugh. "I had to finish something," he replied, holding up his creation.

Linda grabbed it and held it up to her eyes. It looked like a type of egg beater, but instead of mixers at the end, there were brush-like handles.

"Uh," the red-haired woman began while scratching her head. She looked at her son again. "What is it this time?"

Phineas grabbed it and clicked the small switch at its end. The brushes began to move back and forth rapidly, creating a low buzzing sort of noise. "It's an automatic groomer-slash-messager," the teenager replied. "Or a backscratcher."

"A backscratcher? It's fairly small for a backscratcher, isn't it, Dear?"

"It's not for a human back, Mom," Phineas replied. He turned the object off and then placed it with the brushes facing down over Perry's back. The platypus raised his head and looked at the device in curiosity. Phineas flipped the switch again, and sure enough, the brushes began to groom and message the animal's back. Perry chirped in surprise at the noise before finally collapsing happily against his owner's bed, purring softly.

Linda laughed. "Everything you come up with, you just have to have someone in mind, don't you?" she said.

Phineas looked at her and smiled. "Well, what's the point of inventing if you don't have a goal to reach, right?" he replied. Looking at the invention again, he added, "Besides; I shouldn't get all the credit; Ferb helped design it after all."

"But it was your idea." Phineas looked up and stared at the bed across from him, nearest to the window. There, his stepbrother and best friend, Ferb Fletcher, was busy getting ready for school. The green-haired teenager already had his clothes on, and was presently brushing his hair.

Phineas shrugged. "But you helped draw out the plans," he pointed out. "Not to mention build it."

Ferb turned his head and looked at his brother. "But it was still your idea," he repeated.

"I don't need all the credit. I already get enough from everyone else."

Ferb shrugged while Linda chuckled. She reached over and rubbed her youngest son's head. "Just like your father," she said softly. Turning around and walking off, she added, "Time to get dressed, Sweetie. Your bus will be here shortly and you're _still_ in pyjamas. You should think ahead, like your brother."

Phineas frowned at her before turning his head and glaring at Ferb. Ferb grinned amusingly in reply and shrugged again.

"So; my imagination has a bad sense of time, who cares?" came the excuse.

Linda rolled her eyes amusingly. "Just get dressed now, Phineas," she said as she left the room. "And if you can, bring down the suit you were going to wear to Jeremy's stag. I don't want you getting it dirty before then."

"Yeah, Mom!"

Thus began another fun-filled Monday morning. While Phineas got dressed, Ferb gathered his things together in his bag. Perry, slightly disappointed that Phineas had pulled away the backscratcher, returned to sleep.

A few short minutes later, the boys rushed down the stairs to grab a bite to eat and put together their lunches. Saying goodbye to their father as he stepped out of the house, they hurried and gathered their French toasts into their mouths before brushing their teeth and dashing out to catch the bus while racing each other.

An everyday morning for Phineas and Ferb.

* * *

"So, you're going on that field trip tomorrow, right, Ferb?" Phineas wondered as they stepped off of the bus later that morning and walked towards the school.

Ferb was busy cleaning his sunglasses. But he nodded in response anyhow.

"Lucky. While you're gone to the museum, I'll be stuck at school doing math."

"Tough luck, I suppose," the British teenager replied. He was replied by a swift punch in the shoulder by his stepbrother, which only made him chuckle.

"You guys taking a bus?" Phineas wondered.

Ferb shook his head.

"Carpooling?"

Ferb nodded.

"But there's like, twenty-five students in your class. Why not a bus?"

"None were available," Ferb replied. He looked at his little brother and smiled slyly. "We haven't returned the parts we used for the race car yet, remember?"

Phineas blushed slightly in embarrassment, making his brother chuckle again. "Oops," he said foolishly. "I guess I know what we'll be doing today after school, huh?"

They entered the school and walked to their lockers after stopping to say hello to several students. On any normal day, their friends would be waiting for them, but since they were not present, Phineas guessed them to all be doing other things—Isabella was a reporter for the school newspaper, as well as a member on the cheerleading squad; Buford was a junior football player; and Baljeet was part of the math club. "Did you give Mom the suit you were wearing to Jeremy's stag?" he wondered as he fiddled with the lock he had on his locker.

Ferb had just opened his and was busy pulling out his binder. "Last week," he replied.

Phineas glared at him. "If there's a message in that, I don't want to hear it out loud," he warned.

Ferb grinned amusingly. "Forgetful, much?" he teased.

"Ferb, you know I get sidetracked when I get these great breakthroughs!" Phineas argued while opening his locker and digging in it. "I can't think about anything else but my ideas!"

"Apparently."

"I didn't even bother telling Mom that I hadn't chosen a suit, yet. I mean, it's a stag, not the actual wedding. Not to mention that it's still several months from now. So why do we need to get dressed formally?"

"Because the stag is taking place at an expensive restaurant. A restaurant that will not allow jeans or t-shirts inside."

Phineas groaned as he searched for his math folder. Candace, his nineteen-year-old sister, was finally getting married to her long-time crush and boyfriend, Jeremy Johnson. The wedding was to take place in the beginning of next June, but already, the two had planned out every special date and detail. The bridal party had also been chosen since three months earlier. Phineas and Ferb were both going to be grooms men.

The amount of order and perfection was beginning to irritate the fifteen-year-old.

"Candace told me that she likes it better when we dress normally anyway," Phineas muttered.

"Perhaps only to comfort you," Ferb replied. "And to amuse herself."

"Lay off, smart-allic."

Ferb chuckled softly before closing his locker and backing away with his things.

Phineas pulled out his binder and looked at Ferb. "When were we going tuxedo shopping again for the bridal party, Ferb?" he wondered. "I want to write it down in my agenda so that I—!"

"Don't forget again?" Ferb teased.

Phineas wrinkled his nose. "Don't decide to make plans for that day," he corrected him through his teeth. He smiled amusingly. "You're finding this whole thing about me being forgetful a treat, huh?"

Ferb shrugged innocently and smiled in reply. Then, he reached out and placed an arm around Phineas, giving him a side hug.

"Yeah, yeah, I love you too, you big oaf," Phineas said through a laugh while placing an arm around his brother as well.

The bell rang, announcing that classes were going to begin shortly. After sharing their secret handshake and saluting, the brothers parted ways and dashed off for class, promising to get together and come up with another creation at lunch hour.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Here's the extra info I wrote on deviantart:_

_Okay, first off; by this time, Linda knows that her sons invent and build things. Phineas gets up at six every morning, Ferb wakes up at six thirty and they build things. However, Linda only knows about the **little** inventions they come up with. She still has no idea about what they do on Summer Vacation, and she has no idea about most things the boys do at lunch hour at school._

_That should clarify things up for ya _

_And please don't tell me anything about "Ferb's-talking-more". I had an exceedingly large amount of difficulty trying to write stories where he hardly spoke, and it was NOT easy. Especially for the ones where Ferb takes the star role. Watching him on TV is one thing-you don't need to read to see what he's doing or what he means-describing something from a TV show in a book is NOT as easy as it looks, people._

_But I kept his cool personality. If that counts for anything._


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Phineas."

The lunch bell had just rung, and Phineas was still sitting in his seat in Math class. The reason being was that he had come up with yet another idea for a great lunch hour activity, and wanted to have it drawn down before the hour began.

So that left it up to one person to snap him out of it.

Phineas raised his head and looked up at the girl who had spoken. Standing before him was Isabella, one of his earliest and closest friends. Isabella lived across the street from the Flynns and Fletchers, and had often lent a hand to the brothers during their summer break activities. On any normal occasion, she had her long, jet black hair flowing down over her shoulders and back, but today she had it tied in a braid.

For some reason, Phineas found himself staring at her in awe for a moment or two before blinking quickly and shaking some sense into his head. Covering a blush, he smiled and looked at her again. "Hey, Isabella," he said cheerfully.

Isabella smiled back before nodding at the sketchbook. "Watcha doin'?" she asked.

Phineas stared at his notes and then closed it up before gathering all of his things. "Just another idea," he said. Once his things were packed in his bag, he picked it up and got out of his seat. "I'm gonna show Ferb and see if we'll have time to build it before the next class."

"Can I see?" Isabella asked curiously, leaning towards the red-head.

Phineas leaned back until he felt his heart begin to pound against his chest. It did not happen quite often, nor did he know _why_ it did so, but whatever the reason was, it made him feel incredibly uncomfortable and hot. Taking a few steps away from the girl, he smiled wryly while baring his teeth and tried clearing his throat. "Uh, hehe, it's a surprise, Bella," he replied.

"But you can't even show me?"

"N-no. Only Ferb. You'll see it when we show it to Baljeet and Buford."

Isabella made a grimace. "But we've been friends since before kindergarten, Phineas," she pointed out. Smiling cleverly, she reached out and attempted to grab the sketchbook out of her friend's grasp. "Lemme see, just a peek, I promise!"

Phineas leaned back while stretching out his arm away from the girl. Again, his heart began to thump in his ears, but he was pinned against a desk with no way of getting out of that situation. "I-Isabella—!"

Someone cleared their throat loudly at the front of the class. Both teenagers stopped what they were doing and looking up at their teacher, who was still presently sitting at his desk, organizing his things. He looked at the students over his glasses while raising an eyebrow. "If you two lovebirds don't mind, I'd prefer if you continued this outside of the classroom," he announced.

Isabella smiled at the thought. Phineas had been her crush since she had been a very young girl, and the mere label 'lovebirds' simply made her heart flutter.

But not Phineas'. As usual, he had not yet grasped the thought of Isabella having a crush on him, nor had he ever of them being together. Although his heart and emotions reacted differently around her now than they had at an earlier age, Phineas gently yet swiftly pushed Isabella off of him and stood up while smoothing out his shirt. "We're not _lovebirds_," he said.

Isabella recoiled a little and frowned at him, not the least bit pleased that he had not yet caught on.

The teacher sighed tiredly and waved his hand in the direction of the exit. "Whether you are or not, Mr. Flynn, time to exit the classroom," he said. "Now shoo."

* * *

"Not lovebirds? Not _lovebirds_?" Isabella groaned under her breath as she followed her best friend down the hallway. "How is it that all these years, he still hasn't gotten the picture? Ferb has. Even Baljeet and Buford have. So how is it that the great tinkerer himself is still totally _clueless_? How is it that Phineas Flynn can't—!"

"Uh, Isabella?"

Isabella froze in mind track and looked up. They had arrived at the cafeteria doors, and Phineas, with an unsure look on his face, was staring at her.

The Mexican-Jewish teenager widened her eyes in shock before clamping a hand over her mouth and blushing.

"Is everything alright?" Phineas wondered.

The girl smiled wryly at him. "Of course, Phineas!" she replied. "Why would anything be out of place?"

"Uh, you sounded like you were mad about something…"

"I'm a teenage girl, Phineas; we get mad about everything. You know… uuhh, PMS."

Phineas raised an eyebrow, stared at her for a moment longer and then shrugged while grinning. "Meh, I guess you're right," he said. "I mean, I've seen my sister go through that too." He placed his hand against the door and pushed it open. "Good thing I've got a big sister, or else I'd be totally in the dark about this girl stuff."

Isabella rolled her eyes tiredly and sighed before following him in. "You're right, Phineas," she mumbled. "You'd be _totally_ in the dark."

The cafeteria was filled with student by that time. After making sure that all of his friends were sitting at the table they normally sat at for lunch, Phineas raised his arm, waved and dashed over. "Hey, Ferb!" he called out.

Ferb, along with their friends Baljeet and Buford, raised his head and turned to look over his shoulder. Recognizing his stepbrother, he waved back.

"Ferb!" Phineas repeated as he and Isabella came to a stop before them. "Ferb; I know what we're gonna do today!"

"Eat lunch?" Buford guessed while chewing on his sandwich. "Like everyone else here?"

"No, even better," Phineas replied while pulling out his sketchbook. He handed it to Ferb while grinning proudly. "Told you I could figure something out," he said.

Ferb turned the pages over until he had arrived at the latest creation. He studied it before smiling cleverly and looking up at Phineas. He raised an eyebrow.

Phineas recognized the look and frowned in reply while placing his hands on his hips. "Don't say it, Mr. I-never-forget!" he snapped.

Ferb shrugged and then studied the sketchbook again. "Looks complex," he noted. "Are you sure I can build it within a span of ten minutes?"

"Hey; lunch hour is the only time of day we've got to do anything before Christmas vacation," Phineas replied while holding out his arms. "If we can save the universe, then you can build the candy-flinger in no time."

At the mention of the word, Isabella, Baljeet and Buford looked up in curiosity. "Did he just say candy-flinger?" Buford wondered.

"You made a candy-flinger?" Isabella added. As Ferb rose to his feet, she frowned and crossed her arms. "And you couldn't show me this earlier why?"

Phineas shrugged. "It's not like any regular catapult, Isabella," he said. "It's special. Has _extra_ strength, enough to catapult candies all _over_ the cafeteria." He smiled. "Besides; you'll be getting the first batch, so why worry?" He looked at Ferb and gave the thumbs up. "Go get her ready to rip, Bro!"

Ferb returned the signal and dashed off as quickly as he could.

"And make sure the cooks aren't in the kitchen when you set it up!"

"On it."

Phineas turned to face his friends again and rubbed his hands together. "Oooh, this is gonna be one of the most rewarding lunch hours yet," he said excitedly. "You guys are gonna love this!"

"But where did you get all the candy, if you just thought of that idea over English class?" Baljeet wondered curiously.

"Betcha didn't think of that, huh, Dinner Bell?" Buford snorted.

But while Isabella gave a slightly concerned look, Phineas remained confident. "Buford, my man, a tinkerer's greatest tool is his imagination," he said proudly. With a wink he added, "Not to mention that I saw them haul in a huge package of them this morning between classes. It's the big package they get every year for Halloween, remember?"

"Phineas, isn't that stealing?" Isabella pointed out.

"Not if you ask permission."

"You _asked_ permission?"

Buford smiled slyly. "He probably did it _indirectly_, like he always did," he replied. "That's how he got away with everything over summer vacations when his sister tried to bust him and Ferb."

Isabella scratched her head and looked at Phineas again.

Phineas smiled back. "All I did was asked the cook if we could use some of the candy," he replied. "She said yes."

The girl raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms while grinning cleverly. "Uh-huh?" she said. "Was she doing anything while you asked?"

"She was just putting together the meatloaf for lunch."

"Oh! Oh! Did you find out what they put in it, then?" Baljeet asked eagerly. "I heard someone say that they boil pig's hearts and eyeballs in there."

Phineas stared at him in disgust and wrinkled his nose while Isabella covered her mouth. "Baljeet, that's just plain gross!" the teenage boy exclaimed.

"Not to mention I just lost my appetite," Buford groaned while closing his lunch.

Baljeet shrugged innocently. "I'm just saying what I heard," he said.

Phineas laughed nervously and pushed down on his friend's head. "Jeet, they wouldn't allow food like that in the school without inspection," he said. "The meatloaf may be a mystery, but I hardly think that it's poisonous."

"I was speculating, then. Do you not you always say that we should use our imagination?"

"To be creative, sure. But not to make everyone hurl."

Isabella giggled behind her hand until a reflection of light fell over Buford's face. The large football player groaned in surprise and covered his eyes. "Hey, what the heck?" he exclaimed.

Phineas and the others stared at the speck in surprise before the red-haired boy raised his head and looked in the only possible direction it could be coming from. What he saw made him grin.

Ferb was hiding behind the cafeteria counter, reflecting the sunlight off of his wrist watch in their direction. Once he had caught his brother's attention, he gave the thumbs up and disappeared from view.

The ten minutes was up.

Phineas wiggled his fingers. "And the Flynn-Fletchers do it again," he whispered excitedly. He looked at the others. "Okay; when I point, hold up your bags, lunch boxes or hats, and get ready to taste the rainbow!"

He then turned on his heels and ran to the cafeteria counter. There, pulling out the step-stool that sat beneath the cafeteria window, the short teenager stepped onto it and stared at the rest of the student body. He spread out his arms. "Students of Danville High!" he shouted out.

Had he not been who he was, Phineas was sure he would not have been able to catch everyone's attention. His and Ferb's amazing summer vacation stunts had won over popularity for them, even if they did not want it, and luckily, even the senior students were willing to listen, hoping to hear another great idea unfold. So when Phineas spoke up, all eyes turned on him and the giant hall fell silent.

Phineas pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them over his eyes. "You want a little color in your meal?" he asked. Not waiting for a response, he added. "Well, then, get ready for the brightest and tastiest snack you can get for free!" He pointed at the student body. "GIVE IT TO 'EM GOOD' FERB!"

Behind the counter, Ferb had been sitting with the newly completed candy-flinger his brother had devised. It looked like a small scale of a middle aged catapult, only instead of one bowl, it had three. And sitting in these three bowls were handfuls of colourful jelly beans.

When Phineas gave the signal, Ferb smiled and pressed the button on his remote. The catapult hummed and immediately tossed the bowls into the air, where two wooden spoons swung around in a circle and slapped against their backs. The jelly beans were immediately sent sailing over the counter and high over Phineas' head, in a sea of colors.

Immediately, everyone burst into excited cheers and pulled out whatever they could find in order to catch the jelly beans. All students rushed forward as more and more jelly beans sailed into the air.

Phineas smiled proudly over his sunglasses and crossed his arms. "Flynn, you out-did yourself this time," he said, holding up a red jelly bean and tossing it into his mouth.


	3. Chapter 3

"I can't believe that worked! I mean I seriously can't believe you were able to build that thing in less than ten minutes, Ferb! How in the world did you do it?"

Ferb rubbed his fingers against his autumn coat and pulled them away again to inspect them. "I just did," he replied.

Isabella giggled while leaning over the back of her bus seat. The school day had finally come to an end, and as usual, she was riding the bus back home along with her two best friends. Phineas and Ferb were seated in the seat behind her.

"Your building skills will never cease to amaze me, Ferb Fletcher," the girl announced.

Ferb smiled gratefully in reply and nodded his head. Isabella grinned back before looking at her childhood crush.

Phineas was busy reading a book he had borrowed from the school library, hardly seeming to pay any attention to the conversation at all. His dark blue irises swept over the pages almost as quickly as his finger could; the most amazing thing about this was that Isabella knew that every word he read was being absorbed and stored into his sponge-like memory. Although he was not as advanced a reader as Ferb was, there wasn't a single book Phineas read that he could not recite by the back of his hand.

The black-haired teenager crossed her arms over the seat and laid her head on them. "Your idea worked, as usual, Phineas," she said.

Phineas looked up at the mention of his name and smiled in reply. "Thanks, Isabella," he replied.

"I still can't believe you two never got caught."

"Nah, that I can believe; what I _can't_ believe is how Ferb fooled them into leaving the Caf." The boy laughed and looked at his brother. "I mean, a mouse, I would believe; but a _snake?"_

"The head chef hates rattlesnakes," Ferb replied with a shrug. "So I tossed a rubber one in."

"But there aren't any rattlesnakes that live in this area!"

"She doesn't know that. She's from Mexico, remember?"

Phineas chuckled before returning to the book he was reading. Isabella, however, spoke up again, causing him to stop once more. "Phineas, where do you get all of these creative ideas?" she wondered.

Phineas put down his book. "My imagination, I guess," he said with a shrug.

"But isn't there some kind of gene that runs in the family? I mean, you're not only a tinkerer; you're a _genius_. You're acing all of your classes."

"Just because I'm smart, it doesn't mean it runs in the family, Izzie."

Ferb choked on a laugh at this. "Which means that both of his parents were thick in the head," he teased.

While Isabella covered a laugh, Phineas grabbed his book and swatted Ferb across the head with it. He was smiling amusingly while he did it, however. "Your smart remarks are beginning to bug me as much as Candace's wedding is, Muffin Man," he mumbled.

Ferb finished giggling and straightened his sunglasses again. Phineas looked up at Isabella. "Mom's just smart, that's all," he replied. "I mean, she knows how old an antique is by just studying it. You have to be expert at it."

"True, but she's not smart enough or creative enough—no offense—to honestly be the predecessor of your imagination, Phin," the girl pointed out.

"Well, she always joked that Dad was maybe my biological father, since we're both creative." Phineas smiled at Ferb. "That means that we're related by blood after all!" he joked.

Ferb smiled cleverly. "But I'm still older than you by eight months," he replied. "And a head-and-a-half taller."

"Oh, put a sock in it, Evil-keneevil."

Isabella watched as the two playfully swatted each other over the heads and wondered if they may have truly been related. But she knew for a fact that Ferb's biological mother was not Linda Flynn; in fact, his real mother still lived in Britain. Though she had no custody over her child, Ferb had saved up for a flight last summer to visit her for three weeks. He even brought photos of her to show his friends.

But even though Isabella had grown up alongside Phineas, she still had no idea who her best friend's biological father was. "Back to my query," the girl announced, catching the boys' attention once more. "If your mother isn't the cause of your crazy imagination, Phin, then it must be your father, right?"

"Sure, Izzie," Phineas replied with a shrug. "Like I said, Mom likes to joke that—!"

"I'm not talking about your stepdad Lawrence, Phineas. I mean your _biological_ dad."

At these words, Phineas fell incredibly silent. He stared at Isabella as though he could see through her. For several seconds, both Isabella and Ferb looked on quietly, wondering when the teenager would snap out of his trance.

A moment later, Phineas blinked and opened his book again. He settled down in the seat. "I… guess he would have been the one that I inherited my imagination from," he said softly.

Ferb looked on a little longer before settling down as well and yawning. Isabella, however, wanted to hear more. After fifteen years, Phineas had finally said something to confirm that his biological father had once existed; but like usual, this piece of information was only a fragment of what she wanted to hear.

"Well?" the girl said. When Phineas looked up at her again, Isabella continued. "Aren't you going to tell me more about him?"

Phineas blinked again and then stuck his nose back into his book. "No," he replied.

"Why not? We've been friends since, like, forever, and you've never—!"

"The subject is kind of difficult to talk about, Isabella, that's why." It was the first time Isabella had heard Phineas reply so hastily and quietly. He no longer sounded cheerful or optimistic. He turned a page in his book.

Isabella looked at Ferb for help, but the teenager was staring in another direction. "Did your mom divorce with him too?" she wondered.

Phineas raised his eyes heavenward. "Uh, not really," he began.

"Did they separate then?"

"Not exactly—!"

"Do you still see him?"

"I—!"

"Did he do something wrong?" Isabella placed her hands on her cheeks. "Is that why he's not living with you guys anymore?"

At these words, Phineas recoiled and then frowned incredibly seriously. "Isabella, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard you ask me!" he scolded. "How could you even think of that being possible?"

Isabella shrugged. "Well, you've never spoken about him before, so I'm in the dark!" she pointed out.

"It's a private subject, that's why."

"But then—!"

Phineas rolled his eyes tiredly, which was yet another first with Isabella—at least, if he rolled them as seriously as this. "Isabella, my mom isn't dumb; she can tell the difference between a lamb and a wolf. That's why she's married to Ferb's dad now. She didn't marry a jerk, you know."

"Well, then, who _did_ she marry?"

Phineas opened his book again and stared at it. After several seconds of watching his frown dissipate and watching his eyes endorse the book again, it was clear to Isabella that he would not be answering her. So she opened her mouth.

But just as she did, Ferb sat up straight. "Our stop, Phineas," he announced. When his brother looked up and began packing his bag, Ferb looked at Isabella and smiled. "We'll see you tomorrow on the bus again, yes? Or will you be dropped off early again for Cheerleading?"

Isabella blinked before watching the boys stand up. "Uuuhhh, no, I'll be on the bus," she replied. "The tryouts were only today."

Ferb nodded and saluted her as he walked by. "Tally-ho, then," he said.

Isabella waved goodbye and watched him leave until Phineas pulled himself out of the seat and followed his brother. He looked over his shoulder and smiled warmly at the girl while holding up his hand. "Bye, Izzie," he said.

Isabella raised a hand and waved again, but did not smile back, having noticed that a piece of her best friend's smile had been forced into place. "Um, Bye, Phineas," she replied.

The boys stepped off of the vehicle and the doors closed behind them. Turning around, they watched the giant yellow bus take off down the street to the next stop—on any normal day, Isabella would have gotten off at the same stop as the boys, since she lived directly across the street; but she often went to visit her grandparents after school, and they lived a few blocks down.

Phineas then sighed loudly and looked up at Ferb. "Thanks for the save, Bro," he said.

Ferb shrugged. "I know what it's like to be in situations like that," he replied. "Even though our parents' stories are completely different."

"I appreciate the hand, though."

"No prob."

Phineas looked over his shoulder at the street before looking at Ferb again and smiling brightly. "Once we finish our math homework and the English play, want to go into the tree fort and think up another idea for tomorrow?" he suggested excitedly, as though the entire situation from before had never existed.

His brother smiled in reply. "Toss in the fact that you must hand in a suit for the stag first, then count on it," he said.

"Sheesh, there's always some kind of catch, isn't there?" Phineas mumbled stubbornly as they walked towards their house.


	4. Chapter 4

Tuesday morning took place in the same manner as Monday morning for Phineas. He was up at six thirty, fiddling with a new invention and keeping his mother shouting at him from the foot of the stairs. This time, however, he had gotten changed first, so he did not have to do it later when Linda finally came upstairs and told him to skiddadle.

Lawrence was busy drinking his coffee and reading the morning paper when his sons came down the stairs with their bags over their shoulders. Phineas was dressed as usual in his orange-striped yellow hoodie, whilst Ferb had on his dark khaki pants, white shirt and purple vest. Unlike his brother, Ferb's bag was shaped more like a laptop bag and was carried over one shoulder instead of both.

Lawrence smiled at them over his glasses. "Ready for that field trip, Ferb?" he asked.

Ferb grinned and gave him the thumbs up.

"Make sure you bring enough money this time. That way, you won't need to borrow any from one of your friends."

Phineas laughed out loud. "HA!" he cried out, pointing at his brother. "I _knew_ you couldn't remember everything!"

Ferb had nearly jumped back in fright at his brother's exclamation. Now, he was smiling deviously and playfully pushed Phineas aside.

Lawrence watched them as they began nudging each other and then scratched his head. "Uh, am I supposed to understand what's going on here?" he wondered.

Linda came walking down the stairs at that moment. "They're teenage boys, Dear," she said. "Whatever they're doing, if it doesn't consist of them actually killing each other, then I wouldn't worry about it." She walked into the kitchen and set some dishes down in the sink. "Phineas, your sister wants to thank you for that little gift you gave her," she called out. "The one you stuffed into her bag _without_ her knowing when she moved out a few weeks ago. She finally got around to opening it."

Phineas let go of Ferb and stared at his mother. "Oh! You mean the automatic goo-gun?" he said with a smirk.

"If that's the thing that stained her shirt, then yes."

"You mean she actually liked it?"

Linda rolled her eyes and looked at her son over her shoulder. "I was being sarcastic when I said that she wanted to thank you, Phineas," she replied.

Phineas only smiled while baring his teeth, making Ferb chuckle behind his hand. "She _said_ that she wanted something to remember me by when she moved out," he said.

"I'm sure what she really meant was that she just wanted you to give her a photo or something, Genius."

"Hey; she needs to learn to be more specific."

There was a honk outside the house that caught everyone's attention. Lawrence raised his head and gasped softly. "Op, there's your ticket to school," he said. "Better get a move on, boys!"

Ferb shoved Phineas out of the way as he dashed by, knocking his stepbrother backwards over the couch with a yelp. "Have a good day," he said as he opened the door and dashed out.

Lawrence and Linda watched him leave until Phineas got back onto his feet and ran out after him. "That's no fair, Ferb!" he exclaimed while laughing. "How am I supposed to actually race you if you keep shoving me over the couch?"

Their parents stood up and ran to the door to see their sons off. Just as they had expected, Phineas had caught up to Ferb just as the green-haired teenager had reached the door of the bus. Phineas grabbed a hold of Ferb's jacket and pulled back, bringing his stepbrother with him. After successfully knocking Ferb onto the ground and watching him tumble once, Phineas laughed victoriously and dashed into the bus. Ferb stood up and ran in after him.

"Wow, they take these morning rituals seriously, don't they?" Lawrence chuckled as the bus took off.

Linda rolled her eyes amusingly. "Honestly, I can't imagine a day where those two wouldn't be together," she replied. "Hard to see them even arguing with each other."

"Despite the fact that they push each other over the couch every morning," her husband muttered, making the woman laugh.


	5. Chapter 5

Almost as soon as the boys had arrived at school, Ferb dashed off to the meeting point for his class, only having a chance to wave goodbye to his brother and Isabella. And considering Buford was also in the same history period as Ferb, he would be accompanying the Fletcher teenager as well.

That left an entire lunch to Phineas, Isabella and Baljeet. Luckily, Phineas and Ferb had thought ahead that morning, and the teenager had still brought something fantastic for the noon break.

That was able to keep Phineas' excitement up for the morning. Nothing felt better than to get his hands onto something old and start creating something _new_. Even if Ferb did most of the building and was, in fact, a faster builder, Phineas was still able to have the confetti and party popper thrower built before the better half of the lunch hour was up.

The afternoon was a little different. The boys were often together for music class, art and gym, along with Baljeet, Isabella and Buford; they also shared English and Spanish with them. He and Ferb even took a side course about creative writing that was offered once a week. But because of Ferb's and Buford's absence, Phineas found himself spending the classes without them, as well as the creative writing course alone.

Suddenly, it felt very awkward.

Isabella noticed her friend's preoccupied look by the last class of the day. Phineas began to even look out the window and stare at the clock nervously. He drummed his fingers against his desk, took whatever notes that had to be taken, listened to the teacher for a few seconds and then stared out the window again.

Something was wrong. Isabella knew better than anyone that Phineas knew it.

"You looked sort of out of it in English, Phineas," Isabella noted as the teenager put his things away at the final bell of the day. "Like, more than usual."

"Yeah; you did not even send an origami paper airplane to me today for my collection," Baljeet added after putting his own things away.

Phineas closed his locker and placed his orange-striped hoodie over his trademark striped t-shirt. That day had been incredibly sunny and warm, so he had no intention of leaving the school with his brown jacket. "I know," he replied. "I'm just…" He nervously rubbed the back of his neck and looked down the hallway. "I've just got this weird feeling that something's going to go wrong. Like majorly wrong."

"Maybe your imagination is getting the best of you again, Phineas," Isabella said reassuringly while placing a hand on his shoulder. "You think about all sorts of things at once, it's impossible that worry might not overwhelm you."

Phineas looked at her in silence before Baljeet cleared his throat. "Yes," the boy agreed. "You think outside of the box far too much."

Phineas frowned in confusion while Isabella giggled. "Uh, that didn't make much sense, Baljeet," he pointed out.

"Sure it did. If you think too _far_ outside the box, your imagination loses its way back. And then you crack. Just like you did that one summer vacation and we traveled around the world in one day."

"I didn't crack."

"No?" Baljeet scratched his head. "Then, why were you digging so far into the sand to look for _minerals_ that could help a plane fly?"

Isabella finished laughing and patted Phineas on the back. "He's got a good point, Phineas," she agreed. "That _was_ you who cracked."

Phineas blushed, making Baljeet giggle. "That wasn't a crack; my self-confidence just blew a fuse," he argued.

"Sure, Phineas; whatever you say—!"

The sound of sirens whining outside the school suddenly caught their attention. Phineas, Isabella and Baljeet turned their heads, just as many other highschool students did the same.

"Uh, were those ambulance sirens?" Isabella wondered.

"I did not think that ambulances passed by the school very often," Baljeet added.

The three of them continued to stare down the hallway until other students had begun to dash for the exit in curiosity. After sharing a curious look, Phineas, Isabella and Baljeet took off after their classmates.

The parking lot was empty, save the buses that were there to take certain students home. Most of the teenagers, however, were busy dashing down the sidewalk and running up the street where the ambulance had come to a stop. There was also another ambulance, as well as a firetruck and two police cars. The police officers were busy keeping the traffic at bay on the highway nearby.

"Wow, there was a car accident near the school?" Baljeet said in awe. "That never happens."

Alarms were going off in Phineas' head as his friend spoke up, which caused Baljeet's words to go completely unnoticed. Instead, hardly a second after the teenager had spoken, Phineas broke into a faster sprint and left his friends behind him to follow.

"Phineas, hold on!" Isabella cried out.

Teenagers and nearby neighbours were already gathering around the corner where the collision had happened. By the time he was close enough, Phineas recognized the shape of a 4x4 truck with a dented front. The nose had been punched in as though it was nothing but paper.

Then there was the car. It was a small, dark blue car. Every window had been shattered and its side seemed to have been viciously punctured. At the current moment, it was lying upside down on the curb.

A few other cars were parked nearby, out of harm's way. Rushing out of one was one of the school's history teachers.

_Oh no_, Phineas thought worriedly when he saw Buford standing on the curb with other students in his class.

Buford was presently staring at the car before him in shock as the paramedics began fishing someone out. He only looked up when Phineas, closely trailed by Baljeet and Isabella, called out to him. "Buford, what's going on? What happened here?" asked the red-haired fifteen-year-old.

Buford scratched his head and shrugged. "We were following the first car back to the school, and then this crazy truck swerves out of the oncoming lane and crashes into it," he explained. "It was pretty spooky; I've never seen something like that happen unless it was on TV or somethin'. Dorky drunk drivers; they never know when _not_ to drive."

"Hence the fact that they're drunk," Isabella muttered while rolling her eyes.

Phineas took no heed of her and began frantically searching the history class that was now surrounding them.

"What else happened?" Baljeet asked, ignoring his science partner's frantic look.

"What else, Dweeb?" Buford groaned. "The car slid across the highway and then tumbled over itself like, two or three times. Then it stopped right here. What _else_ do you think happened?"

Phineas subconsciously raised a hand and grabbed Buford's t-shirt sleeve. He pulled on the teenager's arm without taking his eyes off of the car. "Buford, where's Ferb?" he asked quietly yet worriedly. "What car was Ferb in? Did he go with you?"

"Uh, no, not on the way back," Buford replied. "He went with a few other guys, but I'm not sure which car he was in. Could be in the one coming last. We stopped for a bite to eat and one of the cars had to wait longer cuz someone had to use the bathroom."

"So you don't know where he _is?"_

"I just said that he wasn't with me in the car, so yeah. What else did you think I said?"

Phineas suddenly became even more uneasy than before. He bit nervously on his fingernails. "Come on, Ferb, show up, will you?" he whispered. He teetered nervously. "Come on, come on, come on…"

"What's with the teeter-totter?" Buford wondered while scratching his head.

Isabella shrugged her shoulders. "He has been getting antsier since lunch hour," Baljeet explained. "He said that something was going to go wrong."

"Since when has Phineas had a sixth sense?"

Just as the question was asked, the paramedics who were busy reaching into the car finally began to back out slowly. "Got the last one!" one of them shouted out.

"Step away from the vehicle, people!" A police officer announced loudly, making the students back up. "Step away now!"

"Who are they pulling out?" Baljeet wondered as he and the others backed away. "Do you see who they are pulling out, Isabella? Who is it?"

The police began blocking the view as to not let any student or passerby get through. Phineas, Isabella, Baljeet and Buford moved their heads in order to peek between the suited men and women.

That's when Phineas saw the last one to come out of the car. It was a teenager, his age, currently unconscious and covered in cuts. There were stains of blood along one of the dark khaki pant legs. The boy was perhaps a little taller than him, with short, green hair sticking messily out in every direction.

"FERB!" Phineas cried out. He pushed by the officers and dashed onto the street. "FERB, WAKE UP!"

"Phineas!" Isabella cried out as she, Baljeet and Buford dashed after him. Moments before the teenager could reach the paramedics, his friends grabbed a hold of his arms and held him back.

Phineas attempted to break free by pulling his arms forward as much as he could. "Ferb, get back on your feet!" he cried out. "Ferb!"

"Get those kids out of here!" An officer groaned. "That red haired one is going to make the injured panic!"

"Let me go, that's my brother! Ferb! FERB, WAKE UP!"

"Phineas, you can't do anything right now," Isabella tried coaxing him softly. As Phineas ceased to fight back, she added, "He'll be alright, you'll see."

But Phineas couldn't see that. He simply could not see how a car accident could make anything better. As he watched the paramedics load his stepbrother carefully into the ambulance, all Phineas could think of was the last car accident he had heard about. He had not personally been there to see the wreckage, and he had been far too young to remember every single detail, but he remembered seeing images on the television. He remembered his sister and his mother crying. He remembered the bedtime story that stopped being told every night.

The person who was in that car accident didn't come out alright.


	6. Chapter 6

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** I know, you're all worried for Ferb XD The story didn't end there, people. Do keep in mind that killing off a protagonist of a series is not something I plan on doing any time soon. That I promise._

_Now lets' read!_

* * *

He could not wait to get home on the bus. So instead, Phineas asked Baljeet if he could borrow his bike and immediately followed the ambulances across the neighbourhood. Although it took him ten minutes longer by bike than the ambulances, Phineas knew of their destination, and he knew the shortest route to get there.

Danville General Hospital.

Arriving at the hospital, the fifteen-year-old was not surprised to recognize his parents' car in the parking lot. He did not even stop to think about how long they had been there. All he did was leap off of the bike and dash through the front doors as quickly as he could. He did not even stop at the information desk. Even if it took him an eternity, he would find out where they took his brother on his own.

In the end, it did not take him that long to find him anyway.

Linda and Lawrence were quietly speaking to a doctor in a hallway when Phineas arrived. He slid across the floor, nearly missing the hallway altogether, and then broke into a sprint again. "Mom!" he called out.

The adults raised their heads and stared in surprise at the fifteen-year-old as he ran towards them. "Phineas?" Linda said. "What are you doing he—!"

"Where is he?" her son interrupted, looking in every single direction. "Where did they put him?" Noticing that the room across from them had a window, Phineas immediately dashed up to it and glued his face against the glass, staring inside with wide eyes. "Is he in here? Is this where they put him?"

Linda placed her hands on Phineas' shoulders and pulled him back. "Phineas, just calm down," she coaxed him.

"I need to know where they put him, Mom! Where did they put Ferb?"

"Calm down, Son, Ferb is in good hands now," Lawrence added, resting his hands on his stepson's shoulders. "The doctor was just about to tell us what his condition is."

Phineas immediately turned and stared at the doctor. "Spit it out then!" he snapped. "Tell us every detail!"

"Phineas, could you just calm _down?_" Linda added again, pulling her son towards her.

The doctor waited until the family had relaxed before clearing his throat and speaking. "Your son just woke up from the blackout he had, no doubt during the collision," he explained. "He has a minor concussion, something that should heal on its own with time and care, and he fractured his left wrist. The left shoulder dislocated but popped back into place as the paramedics were getting him free from his seatbelt. The severest injury we have to report is that he broke his right leg. The femur's been fractured, thankfully not as badly as we were expecting it to be. He came exceedingly close to causing internal bleeding, so he's lucky to be alive."

"Other than that, he'll be fine, right?" Linda asked meekly as Lawrence placed a hand in hers.

The doctor nodded. "He'll be back on both feet within four weeks," he confirmed. "But we'd like to keep him here at the hospital for at least a week, just to keep an eye on him and have him go through a few tests to make sure his body is still functioning properly. Car accidents are nasty things—!"

"So if he's fine, why does he have to stay longer?" Phineas asked with a frown.

The doctor looked at him. "We need to run a few tests," he replied.

"But you just said that he'd be fine!"

"He just came out of an accident, Son. A drunk driver hit the side of the car and caused it to flip. We need to make sure—!"

"If he's alive, then he should come home!" Phineas exclaimed. "Going from a car accident to a hospital is never a good thing; he stays here any longer, he'll probably die anyway!"

"Phineas Flynn!" Linda exclaimed in turn, wrapping her arms around him. She pulled the teenager back against her and pressed her cheek against his. "I know this is upsetting you, but you just need to take a deep breath and calm down."

"But, but Ferb could get worse here, Mom," Phineas whispered worriedly. "He could get worse…"

"This isn't like the last time, Sweetie. I promise you that." Linda planted a kiss on her son's cheek and continued to hold him. "Your brother will be fine. It's just for a week. Then, he'll be back home and you two can keep doing those crazy things all over again. I promise."

Phineas's thoughts were swimming in his head. He had never felt like this before. Even the last time he heard of an accident impacting his family, he could not recall ever feeling so confused, upset or afraid. He knew very well that hospitals were safe havens for the injured, but when a car accident was involved, everything changed.

He couldn't bear the thought of losing someone else because some stranger couldn't wait to get behind the wheel.

Without replying in any way that he had confidence in his mother's words, Phineas placed his hands around her arms and held them there, as if worried that he would lose her too.

* * *

The evening at the Flynn-Fletcher house was incredibly quiet that day. Lawrence decided to spend the night at the hospital with his son, and if Ferb wanted, Linda would spend the following night with him.

Of course, knowing Ferb, he probably wouldn't even want his father to be there for the first night, but he would not complain.

Phineas hardly spoke that evening, which was incredibly strange for Linda. Her youngest son had always been known as a chatterbox, especially when he was excited or coming up with another new idea. So once they had returned Baljeet's bike and gone home, it became incredibly eerie to enter the house.

The fifteen-year-old finished his homework, like he normally did; but he did it without a sound. He came down and helped his mother set the table like he normally did; but he did so without a word. He watched an hour of TV and then played a few video games; but not once did he spill a syllable.

Once nine thirty had come, Phineas went upstairs, brushed his teeth, put on his pyjamas and went into his bedroom.

And he did so silently.

Linda did not bother to ask if he was alright; she already knew that he was not. The car accident had bothered him enough in the first place, but once he had discovered that his stepbrother and best friend had been one of the victims, it had been too much for him to handle.

When curfew came at ten, the lights went out in the boys' bedroom. Linda stood at the foot of the stairs for a moment, wondering what she should do, and then finally took a deep breath and walked up to the second floor. Arriving at her son's bedroom door, she only paused a moment to study the brightly coloured flyers with Phineas and Ferb's names on them. Signs that said "Phineas' room," with Ferb's name scribbled in with a marker between the two words; "Caution: large amount of creativity behind door"; "BEWARE! FUN AHEAD!"; and "Enter at your own risk… Candace" were some of the few Phineas had designed.

Linda grinned weakly. Ever since he had been young, Phineas had tried to do nothing but make everyone happy. He always thought of others first, especially his sister, no matter how annoying Candace said he could be. He admired her on all levels and did his best to please her the most. As the years went by, Phineas began to create little gadgets that squirted water or goo, simply to poke fun at his sister. On the worst of days, which were six out of seven in a week, Candace would yell at the top of her lungs and chase her brother across the house, irritated that all Phineas could do was laugh his head off. She knew he only did it to make her come out and play, and chasing him around the house was as much fun as anything could get.

Then, on the best of days, Candace would gather all the little toys Phineas had made to annoy her, find a way to remove the goo from inside of them and then, while Phineas was busy doing homework or sleeping, she would sneak into his room and drop a bucketful of slime on him, sometimes on Ferb as well, if her stepbrother had been involved. She would laugh her head off at him, and knowing Phineas, he would just do the same and congratulate her on finally getting him back without him knowing.

Linda grinned a little more. By the time Candace had graduated from high school, she had grown very fond of her little brothers. There were still plenty of times that they argued or she would curse the day they were born, but all it took was a few moments together and Phineas' optimism had finally won her over completely.

When Candace moved out only a short while back, Phineas and Ferb continued their exploits, even without her around to, as Candace called it, "bust" them. On certain occasions, when Candace would come and visit, the boys would sneak out to invent something, and Candace would once more attempt at busting them. There were days that Linda often wondered if her daughter had been right about them always causing trouble, but as long as they were keeping their crazy contraptions away from her antiques, she never bothered making sure.

Now, it seemed as though Ferb had moved out unexpectedly. And with both his sister and his brother gone… there was no one Phineas could hang with other than his parents to keep his troubles at bay.

Which, for any teenager, isn't something you'd enjoy doing.

Linda brought her mind back to the present moment and finally sighed before knocking against the door.

There was no reply; only the sound of Perry the platypus making that grinding noise with his teeth just on the other side of the door. His tail smacking against the door came next.

Then came the answer Linda had been waiting for. "… Door open," the teenager announced.

Linda placed her hand on the doorknob and opened the door. Instead of sticking her head in like she normally did, she just walked in. Perry walked away from the door and jumped onto the nearest bed before clambering up the lap of the fifteen-year-old. Phineas, sitting beneath his covers with his pillow propped up against the head of the bed, looked down at the platypus while holding up the backscratcher he had invented two days earlier.

Linda grinned weakly. "Looks like Perry really likes that backscratcher you made him," she said while putting her hands together.

Phineas did not look up when he nodded. He only activated the device and began passing it back and forth over the animal's back, making the platypus purr.

"I… haven't seen him all day, to tell you the truth…"

"That's normal," Phineas replied quietly. "Perry always disappears during the day… Isn't that right, Perry?"

Linda let her smile dissipate before sighing and walking over to the bed. When Phineas noticed, he stopped the backscratcher and set it aside, although he continued to stroke the platypus' soft fur.

His mother sat down on the bed and turned to face her fifteen-year-old. Holding the silence just for a moment longer, she finally opened her mouth again. "Phineas, I know how much that car accident must have frightened you," she said gently.

"No you don't," Phineas disagreed. "If you did, you wouldn't have let them keep Ferb over at the hospital for a whole week."

"Sweetie, they need to make sure Ferb's body will heal properly before he comes back," Linda pointed out. "You don't want your brother coming back in a wheelchair, do you?"

"No…" Phineas looked down at Perry again while playing with his silky fur. The teenager's eyes darkened. "But I don't want him coming back dead, either."

"Ferb will be back alive and well, I promise, Phineas."

Phineas raised his eyes and looked at his mother again. Linda smiled encouragingly and placed a hand on his shoulder. "That incident happened years ago, Phineas," she reassured him. "And I promised you that it wouldn't happen again, right?"

"You can't promise something like that; it always breaks, Mom," Phineas replied. He held Perry up a little higher and hugged the animal's waist. "And then, everything changes."

"But there were changes for the better, remember?" his mother pointed out. "Like I met your stepfather, and he brought Ferb over for you and Candace to meet. And then we got married, you got a brother, and the rest is history, right?"

"Maybe…" Phineas held the platypus up and kissed its forehead. "But then I stopped hearing that story, and the garage just built up on junk for a few years, and I never got that bike finished…"

Linda placed her arms around her son and pulled him towards her. Phineas, although he did not return the gesture, rested his head on her shoulder.

"That was years ago, Phineas," she said. "Not to mention you were only two years old. I'm surprised you can remember all of those details."

"I remembered everything except for the bad details," her son replied. "That's what makes it unbearable."

Linda sighed and kissed Phineas' nose before pulling herself away from him and smiling. "I want you to forget about that day," she said, placing a hand on his chin and raising it. "I want you to stop being so sad about a day that happened nearly fifteen years ago, and I want you to go back to being that cheerful, optimistic, inventive Phineas Flynn that I raised. Can you do that for your mom?"

Phineas looked at her and cracked a grin. "Can I borrow the toaster?" he asked.

"Nice try, Genius."

"Fine. How about the busted ghetto-blaster?"

Linda rolled her eyes amusingly and rubbed Phineas' head. "Fine, you can have that stupid contraption," she said. "But promise me that you will stop thinking about something that's come and gone and start looking hopeful again. I can't imagine you so depressed. You're too smiley for that. Not to mention a quiet Phineas is even worse than one that can't hush up."

Phineas laughed softly before grinning a little more.

"Now, you can get to bed."

"Yeah, Mom."

"And I mean it. No inventing tonight. You can wait until your brother is back. That way, you've got a goal set."

"Okay."

The teenager was about to tuck himself further in beneath the covers when Linda cleared her throat loudly and stopped him in his tracks. She pointed at her cheek.

Phineas stared at her in silence before rolling his eyes and leaning forward to give his mother a kiss on the designated area.

"There we go, now I'm happy," the woman announced as she stood up and walked over to the doorway. Turning around to grab the knob, she looked once more at her son.

Phineas was now up to his neck beneath the blankets. Perry had moved to the boy's side and was already falling asleep.

Linda winked and pointed at the teenager. "Goodnight, Tinker-Flynn," she said, just like every night since he had been a boy.

Phineas winked back and pointed at his mother. "Sleep tight, Mama-Flynn," he replied. Although the line sounded incredibly lame nowadays, it had continued to remain a mother-son tradition since his childhood.

Linda put down her hand and began to close the door. "See you in the morning, Phineas," she said softly, just as the door clicked.

Phineas stared at the door for several seconds afterwards until the light in the hallway had turned off as well. Then, with a heavy sigh, he hugged his pillow and stared at the empty bed across from him.

_"Don't forget to wake up._" Ferb would always finish his day with a line like that.

Phineas continued to study the odd and empty bed until small webbed feet clambered up his back. Perry slid down the teenager's side and moved his beak beneath Phineas' arm until the boy had moved it upwards. Then, cuddling next to him, the platypus yawned and settled down again.

Phineas grinned weakly. "You're right," he said softly. "I should stop worrying so much." Placing his arm around the animal, Phineas yawned and closed his eyes. "It's… Mom's right. Everything will… will be alright…"

And just like that, everything went dark.


	7. Chapter 7

Linda was up at the usual hour when Lawrence returned. The antique seller came in from the garage door with a sigh and set his jacket down on one of the chairs around the dinner table.

"You're back increasingly early," Linda noted.

Lawrence grinned tiredly back. "Would you believe me if I told you Ferb gave me the boot?" he answered.

Linda laughed. "Were you snoring again?" she guessed as the man walked over to the cupboard and grabbed some breakfast.

"I don't understand why it even bothers him in the first place," he grumbled. "I mean, he snores just as loudly as I do." Lawrence popped two pieces of bread into the toaster and then poured himself a cup of coffee. "According to him, he says I snore like an airplane with a… sore throat." After his wife had stopped laughing again, the man frowned in confusion. "Where on Earth did he ever get a figure of speech such as _that?_" he said behind his cup as he took a sip.

Linda rolled her eyes amusingly. "From Phineas," she replied while crossing her arms. "Where else?"

Lawrence choked on a laugh before wiping his mouth. "Alright, that's definitely plausible," he chuckled. "Phineas _does_ have a very crazy imagination."

"Not crazy. Just over-developed."

"Speaking of the little buzzer, where is he?"

Just as Linda was about to answer, there was a loud _thud_ from the floor above them, which was immediately followed by a groan.

"What in the world?" Lawrence said in awe as both he and Linda stared at the ceiling.

There were a few muffled sounds and then a loud crash was heard, nearly making the grownups jump in fright.

"ARGH!" the fifteen-year-old yelled painfully.

Linda pulled herself upright and ran towards the stairs. "Phineas?" she called out. "Phineas, are you alright? What's going on up there?"

For a few minutes, there was no answer except for a distant grumbling coming from her son's room. Then, the sound of a door opening and closing was heard and calm footsteps made their way towards the stairs. Two blue converse shoes could be seen descending them. Linda moved aside to allow her son to pass her.

Phineas walked into view, dressed and ready for the bus. The only thing different about him this morning was the restlessness beneath his eyes. Sitting on his shoulder rather lazily was Perry the platypus.

"What on Earth happened?" Linda wondered.

Phineas looked up at her as she spoke. "My alarm clock wouldn't be quiet," he replied.

"So you did what; smashed it with a sledge hammer and stubbed your thumb?"

Perry made a soft grinding noise before seeming to frown. Phineas looked at him and grinned wryly before looking at his mother. "Uh, not exactly," he replied. "I, uh, sorta missed it, so it fell, and when I tried reaching for it again, I accidentally rolled onto Perry, freaking him out and then sending myself to the floor."

Linda raised an eyebrow while her husband chuckled behind his hand. "And since when do _you_ set your alarm for now?" she asked. "Don't you normally get up at six thirty?"

"I… uh, pressed the snooze button… I didn't really get much sleep last night."

Linda did not seem to have believed him, and only looked at him worriedly before Lawrence cleared his throat. "Then feel comforted to know that neither did your brother," he announced behind his cup of coffee.

Phineas raised his head and looked at him as though only just noticing his presence. "Oh, hey, Dad," he said. "Why are you back already?"

"Apparently, I sound like an aircraft with a broken motor when I snore."

The teenager frowned in confusion. "An aircraft with a—!" He suddenly stopped in his trail of thought and began to chuckle. "I see Ferb's vocab has finally taken an American twist," he teased.

His father raised his eyebrow. "More like a _Phineas_ twist, if you ask me."

Phineas pulled Perry off of his shoulder while the man spoke, and once his mother had ceased giggling, the red-headed teenager spoke up again. "How… _is_ he?" he asked, suddenly becoming anxious.

Lawrence looked at his wife, having noticed the sudden change in his voice, and then looked at his stepson again with a smile. "He's better," he replied. "Had a rough night, though; we had to wake him up every few hours so that his concussion wouldn't get worse. He'll be having surgery today on his leg, actually. They'll be putting him under during the—!"

He suddenly caught a glimpse of Linda, standing behind her son. The woman was frowning worriedly while slicing the air with her hand, right beneath her chin. She shook her head and silently mouthed the words, "Stop talking, you're making him worse."

Lawrence stared at her in surprise before looking at his son again. Although his expression had not changed, Phineas' eyes were certainly more concerned. The man cleared his throat again and smiled warmly. "But he'll be fine in no time, that I have no doubt," he said reassuringly. "Ferb's a sturdy lad, Phin. The last thing you should be worrying about is how he'll cope." He swung his fist before him. "I mean, he's been hanging out with you, all these years; that must count for something, right?"

Phineas looked up at him for a moment but did not smile. Lawrence's grin slowly faded away at this as well before he sighed. "If it makes you feel better, Son, Ferb says hello," he added gently. "And he told me to remind you to… uh, stick with, uh… Big Ideas…" He frowned and scratched his head. "Whatever _that_ meant…"

The fifteen-year-old continued to stare at him until he finally sighed and walked towards the Patio door. "I'm… gonna go let Perry out before I… wait for the bus," he said quietly.

The adults watched him leave and only made another movement once the patio door had slid close behind the teenager. While Linda sighed and passed her hand over her face, Lawrence looked at her in confusion. "Am I missing something here?" he wondered. "Does Phineas have a phobia of hospitals of some sort that I'm not aware of?"

His wife shook her head. "No, she replied. "Phineas isn't afraid of hospitals, Lawrence. You know that."

"But then, why were you telling me to be quiet when I was speaking about Ferb's surgery?"

Linda looked at him in silence before looking out the patio door again. "It's just something that happened years ago." She scratched her head. "Something that… I'm still having difficulty understanding how Phineas could remember so much of. He was only two when it happened."

"What happened?... Wait a minute; you don't mean—!"

"Let's just say it started with a… car accident… and ended with a hospital."

* * *

Perry didn't often have days off from the O.W.C.A. he worked for. Yesterday, he had foiled Dr. Doofenshmirtz' plans of creating the mind controlling jelly-beans—yeah, it was a first for Perry; the first _Doof-inator_ that was actually smaller than your hand. Coincidentally, the package that Phineas and Ferb had used had been one of the few that had just narrowly missed being micro chipped. Thanks to quick thinking, Perry had been able to stop the Doctor in his plan and had him hospitalized for the next few days; that would allow the platypus to relax and enjoy a good few days off before his nemesis returned to his evil scheming.

But the one thing the platypus had not counted on was the car accident. Perry only learned later that the truck driver had not only been drunk, but had bought a pack of the controlling jelly-beans, and had already swallowed half of the package.

What made things worse was when Perry discovered that the car the truck had hit carried not only a teacher and students from his owners' class, but it also carried Ferb Fletcher.

Perry knew what would result of the accident. Although he had been incredibly young at the time as well, some animals had sharper memories than humans—he remembered what had happened that rainy night. He remembered it all. It was when, as he was gliding over the scene back to the Flynn-Fletcher residence with his glider, he saw the familiar gang of teenagers running towards the wreckage that the platypus realized the situation would only get worse:

Phineas was running ahead of the others.

It did not surprise Perry when Phineas remained wide awake most of the night, his arm wrapped gently around his pet's body. Perry watched the teenager's dark blue eyes for the better half of the night, silently hopping the boy would eventually close them. Nearing two thirty in the morning, after hours of staring blankly at the empty bed across from him or laying awake with his eyes closed, Phineas had finally fallen asleep, only to wake up the next morning and nearly squish Perry alive.

The platypus rethought of these moments while his young owner carried him out into the backyard. Ceasing to play the mindless pet for a few minutes, he looked up at the teenager with worried eyes.

Phineas did not seem to take any heed of him. All he did was simply walk over to the giant tree in the backyard, the very same tree where Perry had seen Phineas and Ferb's manic imaginations go to work every summer. He stopped at the foot of the tree and squatted down. Gently lowering his arms, he allowed the platypus to climb out of them and land on the grass. Perry then turned and sat down, staring up at the teenager again.

Phineas placed a hand on the platypus' head and rubbed it gently. "Whatever you decide to do, just come back home by four," he said very softly. "I'm… gonna need someone else than just Mom as company, Perry."

Perry stared at him sadly. It hardly happened, if ever, that he saw Phineas so disturbed. He had always been too optimistic and too busy creating one new idea after another to have the time to doubt himself or be upset about something.

As the teenager began rising to his feet, Perry jumped up and grabbed a hold of Phineas' jeans, thus climbing up his leg until he was balancing on the boy's shoulder. He knew that Phineas and Ferb were aware of his disappearances being daily, and he knew they were not as clueless as they had once been as children; after a certain adventure they had had together, Perry's secret life had been revealed to the boys. So, given permission by his superior from the organization, Perry was allowed to act a little more domesticated and intelligent around the creative duo only.

Phineas looked at the platypus in surprise. Perry perched himself on his shoulder and frowned at the human, as though expecting him to smile immediately. Tilting his head to one side, the platypus gently patted the backpack, which sat over his owner's shoulders, with his tail while growling like he normally did.

Phineas blinked and finally cracked a grin before reaching up and grabbing the platypus. "Who says _you're_ allowed to boss me around?" he said, holding the animal up to eye level. After a moment of silence, he added, "I'll smile and I'll give you another good back rub if you promise to be back by four o'clock, Perry," he said. "Is that a deal?"

Perry hated making silly little deals like these, but if it meant seeing the boy smile again, then that's all that mattered for the time being. So, the platypus grinned satisfyingly and chirped behind his teeth.

"I'll take that as a yes," Phineas replied before setting the animal down again.

But to his complete surprise once more, Perry jumped onto the teenager's leg again and climbed up to his shoulder. Instead of facing him, however, the platypus turned around and unzipped Phineas' backpack. Tail straight up into the air, Perry reached into the bag as far as he could.

"Perry, what are you doing?" Phineas wondered in confusion. "I made sure I had everything packed last night, remember? You can't come to school with me. Pets aren't allowed there." When all the platypus did was grunt and continue rummaging through the boy's things, Phineas scratched his head and gently tugged on the animal's tail. "Perry, could you get out of there? I'm going to miss the bus, and without Ferb here, I—!"

Perry finally pulled himself out of the bag and zipped it up once more. Then, careful not to fall, he turned around and set a mechanical pencil down on Phineas' right ear. Before the human could ask why, the platypus held up the familiar thick sketchbook that Phineas constantly had within his hands—the sketchbook where he drew out every new idea he had.

Phineas stared at the sketchbook as Perry held it inches from his eyes. Grabbing it, he flipped through the pages before sighing and looking at the platypus again. "Your point?" he asked gloomily, although he already knew what Perry was trying to get to.

Perry placed his hands on his hips and frowned in return before turning around and slapping the sketchbook with his tail. The fifteen-year-old stared at the book again before sighing once more and grabbing the pencil behind his head. "I'll… try," he muttered. "But I'm not promising anything."

Perry was not satisfied by this answer. He growled and slapped the sketchbook harder.

"Okay, okay, I'll _promise_ to try," Phineas laughed, pulling the sketchbook away from the animal's tail. He then picked Perry up in his arms and set him back down on the ground.

Perry did not climb back up the teenager's leg. He simply sat there, watching Phineas turn and walk off. The boy waved over his shoulder while saying goodbye and then, to Perry's great disappointment, he reached over his shoulders, opened his bag and tossed his sketchbook back into it, along with the pencil.

The platypus sighed heavily and settled down at the foot of the tree. As Phineas disappeared around the corner of the house, he crossed his arms over each other and placed his head down over them, all the while hoping Ferb would get better soon.


	8. Chapter 8

The bus ride to school was immensely quiet that morning. Isabella was at school earlier, since she had wanted to finish a project with one of her friends, so was not there when Phineas got on the bus.

And the fact that Ferb was absent as well made it even quieter, despite him being the silent one.

Phineas attempted to listen to some music on his ipod to make the time pass; but that only reminded him of the songs he, Ferb and their friends sang on a daily basis. He tried to finish his book; but that only made him think of the encyclopaedias Ferb had read in order to inform Phineas during their many adventures.

Then he tried pulling out his notebook, just as Perry had instructed him to do… But that only brought back memories of not only Ferb, but of another inventor Phineas had believed to be one of his earliest inspirations.

_"Mommy, there's a police car in our driveway…"_

_"Oh, cool! Dat stuff never happens! Maybe dat's deh surpise he said he has fer me, Candace!"_

Phineas shuddered at the thought and stuffed his notebook back into his bag. His heart wanted him to pull it back out and invent again. It was literally screaming for him to do so, as if the world would suddenly end if Phineas Flynn, inventor and tinkerer of Danville, did not come up with another idea soon.

_"Hey, Ferb! I know what we're gonna do today!"_

The last word of his daily quote echoed in what he believed to be his now empty brain. No ideas came to mind. No plans were being thought through. No parts were being listed.

It was as if his mind was refusing to let him be creative anymore… at least, not until he was one hundred percent sure that Ferb would be alright.

That was where the problem lay. For all Phineas knew, Ferb was _not_ going to be alright. Car accidents and hospitals had never meant anything good to him. It always ended in disaster. On the news, in the newspaper…

… Ten blocks away from his front door…

Phineas hugged himself and sunk into the bus seat. There was no way Fate would be this evil to him. Not after being the honest and big-hearted child he had always been. There was no way in history that it could possibly think of robbing him of another loved one. No way, no way, no way.

No _way._

_Impossible_. That was the first time Phineas had even thought of that word existing, and it did not make him feel any better than he had felt before.

* * *

"I wonder if Ferb is going to come to school today?" Baljeet wondered aloud while reaching into his locker. "Did Phineas ever send you a text, Isabella?"

Isabella was leaning against the same row of lockers, accompanied by Buford, who was presently eating his breakfast. "Nope," she replied. "He didn't even call me."

"That is weird. He always sends you some kind of text after school, does he not?"

"Yeah."

Buford swallowed his food before stretching his arms out. "Has he admitted his feelings to you yet?" he asked. "Or even better, has he noticed the way you flirt with him?"

Isabella blushed and played with her fingers. "Are you kidding? Phineas is cute and creative, but he's the biggest, ignorant inventor in the world. He doesn't even look like he _considers_ me anything more than a best friend."

Buford was already laughing behind his hand. Baljeet sighed and closed his locker. "Give it time," he said. "One of these days, he will get the picture. Either that, or Ferb will find a way to slap it into his head. Ferb has _always_ been able to do that."

Isabella laughed sarcastically. "You didn't grow up with them, Baljeet," she replied. "Phineas talks enough for both of them. When he gets a breakthrough, not even Ferb can make him shut up. So I highly doubt that Ferb will be able to do the job." She sighed heavenly and cracked a grin. "But he's so cute when he goes on and on about his ideas and helping people… And his eyes get so bright… and the way he sings and dances and—!"

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Buford groaned while rolling his eyes. "Everything about him is mushy."

Isabella glared at him and was about to slap him with her notebook when the sound of someone approaching caught her attention. All three raised their heads.

The teenager they were speaking of walked up to his locker, feet dragging against the floor and hands in the pockets of his dark red autumn coat. Even his eyes, downcasted and dark, took the others by surprise.

"Whoa, what happened to you?" Baljeet asked in shock as Phineas stopped beside him and began unlocking his locker. "You look like someone told you that summer vacation no longer exists."

"Yeah, aren't you normally that dork that skips down the hallways every morning announcing that he had another 'big idea?'" Buford added.

Phineas did not look at them as they spoke. Once his lock had been pulled away, he opened his locker and removed his jacket. "Hello to you too, Buford," he said gloomily.

"Okay, _now_ you are scaring me," Baljeet said worriedly. He grabbed Phineas' shoulders and shook them. "What have you done with Phineas Flynn, you low-spirited clone?"

Phineas gently removed his friend's hands and continued to take his jacket off. "I'm not a clone, Baljeet, I'm just tired," he replied. Stuffing his coat into the locker, he added, "I had a rough night. That's all."

Isabella, Baljeet and Buford remained silent while exchanging confused and worried stares. Only after Phineas had pulled out his English binder did the girl clear her throat and lean towards him. She smiled. "So, Phineas," she said, catching his attention. "Whatcha gonna do for lunch today?"

Phineas stared at her in silence for a long time. Then, blinking once, he looked away and closed his locker. "Nothin'," he mumbled depressingly.

The answer shocked even Buford. "What?" he said.

Isabella gawked. "Nothing?" she echoed. With a soft frown, she placed her hands on her hips. "Okay, _who_ are you, and what have you done with our Phineas?"

"I _told_ you he was a clone!" Baljeet said in horror.

Phineas rolled his eyes tiredly and turned to walk off. "I don't have any big ideas today, Izzie," he replied. "I'm… completely empty-handed."

His friends ran to catch up with him. "But Phineas, that _never_ happens!" Isabella pointed out. "M-maybe you'll think of something during class…"

"I don't plan to."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't plan on it. I don't feel like making anything up today. Can't really do it without Ferb, anyway. I mean, _he's_ the one who builds the stuff. I just invent. I can't build as fast as he can."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Baljeet exclaimed. He ran ahead of Phineas and spread out his arms, causing the teenagers to come to a halt. "What does that mean? What happened to Ferb?"

Phineas stared at him silently for a moment before shrugging. "He has to stay at the hospital for a week," he replied. "He's… going for his surgery tomorrow."

"Surgery?" Isabella said worriedly. "Is he okay, Phineas? Is Ferb awake, at least?"

"I dunno, I haven't seen him since the accident," Phineas replied. "But Dad came back this morning because Ferb couldn't sleep, so he probably is awake. He's got a concussion, so they need to wake him up every few hours or else he could fall into a coma."

"Does that mean he will be alright, Phineas?" Baljeet asked. "I mean, he _will_ come back, right?"

"Will he be able to walk at least?" Isabella asked in turn. "Did he forget anything? Is he going to keep building things after?"

"I wonder if he'll be the same Ferb after this?" Buford wondered aloud.

The questions and assumptions were not making Phineas feel any better than he already felt. In fact, they were making him feel worse, and reminded him of the accident nearly fifteen years ago. They continued asking him questions until Phineas shut his eyes tightly and raised his head. "QUIET!" he snapped.

That was enough to silence them. Phineas never yelled at anyone.

The red-headed fifteen-year-old glared at them while squeezing his fists. "Stop asking me if he's going to be fine," he said. "I don't _know_. He probably _won't_, for all I know. Car accidents and hospitals _don't_ go hand in hand. So _stop_ asking me!"

He stormed passed Baljeet. "And for the record, I don't _feel_ like _doing_ anything today," he added dryly before turning the corner.

Isabella, Baljeet and Buford looked on in complete bewilderment before the five-minute bell caused them to return to the present moment.

"Did Phineas just… _snap?_" Baljeet said in shock.

"I knew it; he was gonna eventually crack again," Buford added. "Did you hear what he said? He doesn't _feel_ like inventing anything! Since when does _that_ happen?"

Isabella did not say anything more. All she did was stare at the corner where Phineas had disappeared, and silently wondered if her best friend was worrying too much about his brother's condition.

_It's_ gotta _have something to do with the freak-out at the accident scene yesterday,_ she thought.


	9. Chapter 9

Phineas hardly spoke or even looked at his friends that day at school. He found it incredibly difficult to concentrate in class. Although he correctly answered questions his teachers asked him, he found most of their words going in one ear and out the other.

He found it easier to concentrate if he could doodle at the same time. So, he pulled out his handy notebook, but instead of coming up with an idea, he just drew.

Isabella noticed him pull out his pencil. At first, her heart leaped for joy; perhaps he was coming up with something.

But when she leaned over to take a peek, she realized that it was not a new invention that her best friend was coming up with. Instead, he was sketching Ferb.

Over and over and over again.

For a while, Isabella ignored it, knowing that it would be best not to ask him if he was alright; but after a few minutes, she decided to peek once more. When she did, she realized that Phineas had flipped pages and was currently sketching someone else out. At first, the girl thought it to be Ferb again, but this character's head was not shaped like Phineas' stepbrother's.

In fact, it was almost shaped like _his._

But she knew for a fact that it certainly wasn't Phineas; this person seemed much older. Because Phineas had a talent at drawing, it was easy to recognize all the details; a few lines of age beneath the eyes, dark eyes filled with energy, a bright, toothy smile, dark hair with white streaks—would have been red no doubt, if Phineas was sketching with colors—thick eyebrows… The typical adult Isabella had always imagined Phineas would one day resemble.

But there was one feature that made this person different; it was the fact that he was sitting on a bed shaped like a dingy, with blue blankets. In his hands was a baby platypus. He was holding it up to a little boy, who resembled the man in so many ways, it was undoubtedly his son. The boy was dressed in a full-suit pyjama, with stripes. Like the man, his little tuff of hair was dark, and so were his eyes. And his smile resembled that of an angel.

Or… that of a certain tinkerer Isabella had a crush on.

The girl covered her mouth before turning quickly away; she did not want to be caught spying on her best friend. Suddenly, his situation seemed more alarming and concerning than she would have thought.

She had a pretty good feeling she knew who that man was.

* * *

Lunch hour came and went. With it came hushed chatter and rumors that the school's brightest inventor had run out of ideas. Never, since he had been a child, did Phineas go a single day at school without doing something fantastic. Never had he let his peers go home empty handed, or without experiencing an hour of wonder during the school day.

Word that Phineas Flynn had lost his touch was beginning to spread throughout the high school like wildfire.

The worst part: Phineas did not seem to care.

He rode the bus home in silence; Isabella did not dare to speak to him. Though Phineas was constantly expecting her to speak to him cheerfully, he was slightly glad that she was not doing so this time.

He wouldn't have answered, anyway.

When the bus stopped in front of his house, Phineas got off and walked slowly up to the front door. He entered without a word, only speaking when his father greeted him; apparently, Linda had gone to spend the day with Ferb, but would be returning that evening, since the teenager refused to have either of his parents spend another night with him.

He went straight up to his room to do his homework, announcing that he would only come back down when dinner was ready. Perry was waiting for him in the room.

Hardly an hour had gone by when his cellphone began to ring. It was chiming _Summer Belongs to You,_ one of the songs he and his friends had sung the summer he first decided to start his inventing streak with Ferb. Every one of his friends, including Ferb, had their own ringtone, and it was one of the many songs they had sung together.

This one announced a call from the girl across the street.

Phineas stared at the cellphone and picked it up while pressing the talk button. "Hi," he said rather quietly. "Stuck on another math problem, Izzie?"

"_Not exactly, Phineas,"_ came the reply. _"Though I do have a question to ask you, it has nothing to do with our homework."_

"Okay; what did you want then?"

"… _Why are you so sad?"_

Phineas fell silent. He put down his pencil and stared at his sheets of homework, scattered over his entire bed.

"_Phineas, I know something's bothering you,"_ Isabella continued. _"I've known you ever since we were little. You're too good to lie, you're too excited to keep quiet, and you're _way _too creative to be able to go an entire _day _without inventing. Don't you think I would know you enough by now to know that my best friend is having a bad day?"_

Phineas sighed heavily and lay down on the bed.

"_Is it because of what happened to Ferb, Phineas?"_

Again the boy sighed and placed an arm over his eyes. "It's difficult to explain, Isabella," he replied. "Yes, Ferb's got something to do with it, but… well, I have other things on my mind too."

"_Then why can't you tell me? We used to share so many secrets with each other before Ferb moved in with you, remember?"_

"Of… course I remember. You were the only kid on the street at the time who didn't make fun of the way I looked or the way I acted."

Isabella giggled. _"I thought it was neat that you considered everything about _everything _at that age,"_ she replied. _"You used to believe with your whole heart that there really _was _an Easter Platypus instead of a Bunny."_

"Well, it made sense. I mean, rabbits don't lay eggs, so it _had _to be a platypus."

Isabella laughed at the other end. Phineas cracked a grin at this; he loved making her laugh. If Ferb did not understand the way he spoke, thought or made up jokes, he knew Isabella did. And she could tolerate his exciting chatter more than anyone.

"_Back to the matter at hand, though,"_ Isabella said, finally ceasing to laugh. _"Why are you letting Ferb's accident just… get in the way of everything? You never used to be that way, Phineas. You never looked back. At anything. Especially if it would have some kind of impact on your creativity."_

"This is different, Isabella," Phineas sighed. He turned over onto his stomach and Perry climbed onto his back and sat there. "Car accidents are probably the one thing that really freaks me out. I just can't ever seem to make the connection between a victim being pulled out of the wreckage and being transported to the hospital… and _surviving._ It just… never worked that way before."

"_Phineas, there have been _plenty _of car accidents where people survived…"_

"But there was always one fatality."

"_Not always…"_

"But most of the time."

Isabella sighed. _"Phineas, I just want to see you _smile _again,"_ she said, sounding as though she would cry. _"No one's used to seeing you be so down. Buford and Baljeet are totally convinced that you're going to crack again and never recover."_

"I never _cracked_ in the first place," Phineas argued. "I just had a moment of self-doubt."

"_For an inventor, that's called C-R-A-C-K-I-N-G."_

Phineas groaned loudly in frustration. "Look, this is different from any other _crack_ I've had in the past, Isabella," he said sternly. "Car accidents scare me. Like, _really _scare me. When I saw Ferb getting pulled out of that busted up, turned over car, I freaked. The last time something like that happened, I—!"

"_You… you _saw_ something like that happen before?"_

Phineas fell silent, suddenly aware that he had said too much.

"_Phineas, were you in a _car accident _in the past?"_ His best friend sounded incredibly worried now.

The boy sighed tiredly and covered his eyes. "No, I've never been in a car accident, Izzie," he reassured her. "Mom drives extra careful, so does Dad, and my folks never let me leave the yard in someone else's car unless it was Candace or Jeremy. You know that… That's why Ferb and I always drove out bikes or took our skateboards if we weren't doing something with the family car."

"_I don't _care _about what we do on summer vacation, Phineas Flynn,"_ Isabella scolded. _"Why did you say 'The last time something like that happened?' Did you _see_ another accident? Did you _know _someone who was in it? Why aren't you telling me anything? We're best friends! Why does Ferb's accident have to change you completely if he's going to be alright—!"_

"—_No one_ recovers from a car accident, Isabella," Phineas snapped angrily. "No one gets better! It's _always _been that way! Hospitals are a place people in car accidents go just to make things _worse!_ And what happened in the past doesn't have to be spoken of. I don't need to tell you _everything!_ So if you don't want to drop the subject, Good night!"

He pulled the cellphone away from his ear and pressed the _end call_ button. Setting it down, he buried his face in his pillow and groaned loudly.

His cellphone beeped. Phineas raised his head again and stared at it before picking it up and reading the text that was sent.

_Good night._

_I'm sorry._

Phineas moaned and tossed the phone to the floor before placing his face in his pillows again. It had been the very first time he hung up on his best friend, and to make matters worse, it had been the first time he had yelled at her. And all Isabella had tried to do was make him feel better.

Honestly, Phineas would not be surprised if she would be too afraid to speak to him again.

A soft knock over his bedroom door was heard, and then two heads peered in as it opened. "Phineas, are you alright?" Linda asked quietly.

Phineas did not look up. He only moved his head. "I'm fine," he replied, his voice muffled by the pillows.

"Dinner is ready," Lawrence added. "Would you like to come down and have a bite to eat?"

"I lost my appetite, Dad. I think I'll skip dinner tonight."

His parents looked at each other worriedly before staring at the fifteen-year-old again. "Phineas, your father and I are worried you're taking Ferb's accident a little _too _seriously," Linda announced.

"We have some good news, though," Lawrence added. "Ferb's surgery went very well. The doctors expect his leg to heal before the month is up."

"That means he'll be able to walk again," Phineas' mother continued. "Does that… make you feel a little more reassured?"

Phineas did not reply right away. Even when he did, he did not look up. He only hugged his pillow more. "Could you leave me alone, please?" he asked meekly. "I don't want to think about hospitals or car accidents anymore. I need to finish my homework."

Lawrence and Linda looked on worriedly. "Phineas, your brother is going to be just fine," Linda repeated.

"Please go away…"

"Sweetie—!"

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Phineas cried out beneath the pillows. "I don't want to think about this anymore!"

His parents recoiled in surprise before finally pulling themselves away from the door. "We'll save some leftovers for you if you get hungry again," Lawrence said gently while closing the door. "… Goodnight, Son."

When the door clicked, Phineas finally raised his eyes, only to find that tears had begun to overflow them and wet his pillow. _Shouldn't_ he be glad that Ferb would be recovering faster than normal? Wasn't that what was bothering him earlier?

The past overswept him again, and this time, Phineas couldn't stop the sob that emanated from his mouth. Burying his face in his pillows again, he began focusing on a new question that was eating away at his mind:

If Ferb had been able to survive the car accident, then why couldn't the last victim have done the same?


	10. Chapter 10

_Seven-year-old Candace ran to the living room window when lights of red and blue flashed from outside in the front yard. She thought for a split second that maybe her father had returned with fireworks and was putting up a show; but when she remembered how hard the rain was falling that night, she knew it wouldn't be possible. The fireworks would only get soaked._

_Pulling the curtains away, the girl peered outside, cupping her hands around her eyes and gluing them against the window. What she saw made her not the least bit excited; in fact, it made her worry. "Mommy, there's a police car in our driveway," she called out._

_Her mother stuck her head in the doorway of the kitchen, just as Candace's little two-year-old brother came waddling excitedly around the corner, a hand clutching the arm of his stuffed platypus. "A police car?" Linda wondered aloud._

_"Yeah," Candace replied. "Are they here because I borrowed Stacy's pencil without asking?"_

_Phineas ran up to his sister and stood on his tippy toes to peer out the window. "Oh, cool!" the toddler exclaimed. "Dat stuff never happens! Maybe dat's deh surpise fer me, Candace!"_

_"I don't think Daddy would bring over the police, Phineas," Candace replied as her mother walked into the living room. "That would be making them mad."_

_"Well, maybe he wants to invent somefin' wif dem!"_

_"That would still make them mad."_

_Linda tightened her ponytail and was about to reach the window when the doorbell rang. She turned and headed towards the front door instead. "I wonder what they would want at this time in the evening?" she wondered._

_Candace and Phineas watched her walk off before following her. They arrived at her feet just as the woman opened the door. Two police officers were standing before her, holding up an umbrella so they would not get wet._

_"May I help you, Officers?" the woman asked._

_One of them cleared their throat and pulled out a piece of paper. "Mrs. Francis Flynn?" he said._

_"Yes. Francis is my husband."_

_"And… I'm assuming these… would be your children?"_

_Candace hid timidly behind her mother's leg. Worry filled her eyes. Phineas, though a little braver than his sister, held onto Linda's leg as well._

_"May I ask what this is about?" Linda said with a soft frown. "Has my husband done anything?"_

_The officers shook their head. "N-no, ma'am. Your husband hasn't done anything wrong."_

_"Oh; then what would be the problem?"_

_"There's… there's been an accident, Mrs. Flynn…"_

_

* * *

_

Phineas awoke the next morning with a gasp, shooting himself up so quickly, Perry squawked in surprise and leaped off of the bed. Beside the teenager's head, his alarm clock was ringing furiously.

Phineas caught his breath for several seconds before sighing and closing his eyes again. It was seven o'clock, the time his mother normally called to him and Ferb every morning before school.

But he just moaned, slapped his hand down on the alarm clock, and dropped back down onto the pillows. His heart was so heavy with confusion, loss and grief, he did not feel like getting up and going to school. Especially after the way he had finished things with Isabella. So he tossed the covers back over his head and curled in a ball.

There was a firm knock on the door. "Phineas, are you up yet?" Linda called out.

Phineas did not feel like answering. He knew that eventually, his mother would open the door and come in, so he remained silent.

Eventually, his mother did do as he expected her to. "Phineas, you need to get up, this is no time to invent things in bed again," she announced, walking up to the bed and grabbing the sheets. "I don't feel like having to tell you every single morning that you have to get ready for—!"

She pulled the blankets away, only to find that her son, still in his pyjamas, was _not_ inventing, but still lying in bed. The fifteen-year-old flinched at the light and then tiredly looked up at his mother.

Linda raised her eyebrows in shock. "Phineas?" she gaped. "Aren't you normally up creating something by now? What are you still doing in bed?"

Phineas reached up and grabbed the blankets from his mother's hands. Throwing them back over his head, he replied, "I don't feel like getting up yet, that's what."

"Although I'm surprised to find you still snoozing away, I need to remind you that you have school today," Linda said, grabbing the blankets once more. "So I need you up and atem now or else—!"

Phineas only grabbed the sheets again and covered his head once more. "I don't feel good, Mom," he croaked. "Can you call in sick for me today?"

"Phineas Flynn, I'm not going to let you play hooky," his mother argued. "You need to get up now—!"

"—Please?"

Linda fell silent before grabbing the corners of the covers and pulling them back enough to study her son. Phineas opened his eyes and looked back up at her as though silently begging her to let him stay home.

Linda was not used to seeing Phineas look like this. His eyes were red and tearful, his face was restless, his hair was still messy and he was begging her to allow him to skip a day of school.

… And the fact that there was no sign of an invention in his hands made things even more alarming.

Linda waited a moment before leaning over and placing a hand over her son's head. "Phineas, why are you taking this so seriously?" she asked. "I've never seen you this stressed out before."

Phineas blinked once before opening his mouth. "I just want to stay home today," he whispered.

Linda pulled her hand away.

"… I didn't sleep well again."

At least he was not lying, Linda thought. It was impossible for her little boy to lie without being caught. He was too good to lie.

But she hated seeing him like that nonetheless. Understanding that going to school would only make things worse for him, Linda complied and stood up. "Alright, Sweetie," she said. "I'll call the school and tell them that you're sick."

She expected him to at least flash a grateful smile, but all Phineas did was throw the covers back over his head again. Perry jumped up onto the bed and settled down next to the teenager, eyes open.

Linda looked at him over her shoulder and sighed before leaving the room.

* * *

"Where is Phineas?"

Isabella looked up and found that Baljeet was standing next to her with his bag over his shoulder. He cocked his head and looked worriedly at the girl as she put her things away in her locker. "He _does_ ride the same bus as you, right?" he added.

Isabella blinked and then closed her locker. "Yes," she replied. "But he wasn't on the bus this morning."

"And he has not texted you?"

"… Not since he hung up on me."

Baljeet recoiled in shock. "Phineas did _what?" _

Isabella shrugged. "I called him last night and tried to talk to him," she explained. "At first, it seemed okay, but then I guess I made him mad and he… yelled at me and hung up."

"Please; do not speak anymore!" Baljeet said in horror, waving a hand before him. Placing his hands over his ears, he added, "If I hear any more about this broken Phineas, I am going to scream! Oh, the horrors! Where is Ferb when you need him? _He_ could fix Phineas! He could fix _anything_! Why, oh why did he have to be riding in that car?"

Isabella looked at him pitifully before Buford walked over while scratching his head. "What's wrong with the Nerd?" he wondered.

"Phineas is broken," the girl muttered.

"Phineas is—oh wait; you mean he's _still_ flipped, huh?"

"LALALALALALALALALALA!" Baljeet chanted loudly. He turned on his heels and dashed off, hands still over his ears. "I cannot hear you! LALALALALA!"

Isabella and Buford watched him leave before the football player groaned and followed Baljeet off. "I'll go shut him up," he mumbled.

Isabella watched him leave before pulling out her cellphone. In a final attempt of hopefulness, she went through her contact list and pressed Phineas' number. She could hear the other line ring in her ear, but after several seconds, she was told that the cellphone was either off or out of the service area.

Sighing, she ended the call and put her phone away. "Please cheer up, Phineas," she begged quietly before running after the others.

* * *

Linda and Lawrence spent most of the morning checking up on Phineas. For the most part, the teenager had remained in bed. Once ten o'clock had come, he got up and dressed in his usual baggy jeans and striped yellow sweater.

But he never left his room. Not unless to use the washroom or eat breakfast silently.

Linda was growing more and more concerned for her boy. For two days, Phineas had not created a single invention. He did not even look as though he had thought of anything. Now, all he was doing was walking in circles, drawing scribbles on the Smart Board he and Ferb had hanging in their room, and playing video games on his portable game player. He would sit by the window while doing so, and once he got bored, pulled out his ipod and listened to music while staring out over the yard.

Linda sighed heavily after peeking into her son's room again and closing the door quietly. She knew Phineas was being bothered by the past now more than Ferb's accident. On any normal occasion, Phineas would have leaped for joy upon hearing that Ferb would be alright and walking in no time. But because he did not, Linda had a bad feeling that the accident that had occurred when he was two was now the dominant thought on his mind.

"If only there was someone he would be willing to listen to," she thought. "Someone who could relate to what he's going through. But if Ferb isn't here, who else is there?"

Hardly a moment of thought had gone by when the solution arose.

* * *

Jeremy pulled open another box and dug into it. Hardly two months had gone by since his fiancée had officially moved out with him into their house across the city of Danville, and there were still several boxes for them to unpack. The thought at once amused him and frustrated him; while there was so much left to do, he was curious to see what it was that Candace had in her boxes.

A few months or so before Candace Flynn had moved all of her belongings out of her parents' house, Jeremy had gone house shopping with her. It took several visits before they had found the perfect one—it was neither too big, neither too small. There was space in the basement for Jeremy's recording studio—he had planned on becoming a songwriter—as well as space for Candace's musical instruments collection. The house, like their parents' houses, had two floors, although it lacked a garage. There was a room for their computer and office supplies, and two spare bedrooms in case someone—or _two_ someones on Candace's relatives list—decided to come for a visit.

It was the perfect size for the both of them, especially if they hoped to one day start a family; but at the moment, there were still so many boxes to unpack, Jeremy could have sworn the house had shrunk sizes.

But receiving permission to look through his fiancée's things was all he needed to feel happy. The young songwriter choked on a laugh when he pulled out an empty goo-gun from one of them. "I wonder what you were like when you were in your Terrible Two year, Phin?" he muttered while stuffing the toy into his pocket and continuing the search. He figured it would be safer if he did not tell Candace about the discovery of another one of her brother's contraptions.

"Did you find it yet?" the nineteen-year-old's voice called out from the other end of the house.

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "What, my guitar or your brush?" he teased.

"Funny, Jeremy. I need that brush! I've still got some more of that darn goo stuck in my hair!"

Jeremy chuckled while pulling out one item at a time. "Candace, you know Phineas doesn't mean any harm," he said.

"I know that," Candace groaned, walking into the living room. She pointed at her hair which was up and wrapped in a towel. "That's why I could never bust him and Ferb. He means no harm, he's super cute, but he's the BIGGEST pain in the butt I had to live with for nineteen years!"

"I thought you said you were proud of what he and Ferb were able to accomplish in the past."

Candace crossed her arms. "Yeah, sure, I've had my moments," she replied. "It doesn't mean I can't still take it back here and there. I made a promise that I'd keep trying to bust him, even if I look like a total idiot. Even if I love him as much as I love my teddy bear. But when I told him that I wanted a memorabilia of our past adventures, I did NOT mean for him to stick a stupid Goo-gun into my bag!"

Jeremy threw his head back and laughed. "You and your brothers share such a weird relationship," he said, continuing to go through his fiancée's boxes.

"And _you_ don't think your little sister's crazy," Candace muttered while turning and leaving the room.

She heard Jeremy shout something to her, which made her laugh and think back to the times she had spent all those summers trying to bust her brothers. It was odd; at the time, even if she thought what they had done was amazing, she wanted to see them get grounded. Especially Phineas. He had always been such an adorable little angel, no one could ever see him being more than an innocent inventor. Say, their mother, for example. Even today, Linda had no idea about what her sons did at school or what they did while she had her back turned. She knew that Phineas invented things and Ferb would build them, but she did not know of the crazy stunts they played.

Even when they were in school, Candace had attempted to foil their ideas and either call her mother or the Principal.

"Crazy, but I guess he's a keeper," Candace muttered to herself.

The phone in the kitchen suddenly began to ring. The woman raised her head and turned around.

"Candy, could you get that, please?" Jeremy shouted. "My hands are full of your makeup!"

Candace rolled her eyes amusingly as she walked into the kitchen and picked up the cordless phone. "Hello?" she said cheerfully.

_"Hi, Candace, it's Mom." _

"Oh, hi, Mom." Candace jumped onto the counter and sat down. "How's Ferb doing? Jeremy and I were planning to go visit him tomorrow, but his sister insisted that he drops by and helps her with her science project. So we'll go see him Saturday."

_"I'm sure Ferb will appreciate it_," Linda replied. _"Your father decided to go and see him this afternoon." _

"That's cool… Has Phineas gone to see him yet?"

At these words, her mother fell silent for a second or two. _"Uh, no, not yet_," she said. _"And I don't think he plans on doing so." _

"Why not?"

_"He, uh… he asked to stay home from school today." _

Candace slid off of the counter. "Phin's sick, huh?" she said. "That happens I guess…"

_"Well, actually—!"_

"Anyway, what was it that you called me for again?"

Linda sighed. _"I have a favour to ask of you, Candace_," she announced.

"Okay. Need me to grab some groceries for you?"

_"N-no…"_

"The washer's busted and you need me to pick up some laundry?"

_"No…"_

Candace frowned. "You want me to come help clean the house?"

_"No, Dear…"_

The woman placed a hand on her hip. "Well, then _what_, Mom?" she asked, growing impatient.

There was silence at the other end for a second or two. _"… I need you to speak with your brother_," Linda replied softly.

Candace's frown slowly dissipated as her mother began explaining what had happened.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** If you guys say "OMG! Phineas' Dad is Major Monogram?" I'm gonna laugh. XD NO, he is NOT Phin's biological dad. When I wanted to come up with a name for Phineas' biological father, I wanted something kinda similar to Phin's. The name Francis popped up, so I went with it. **I had not idea at the time that Monogram's first name was Francis. So I just stuck with it.**_

_Lol. I just felt like clearing that up before people freak out again like they did on dA *giggles***  
**_


	11. Chapter 11

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**_ Sorry about the long wait guys. School's been keeping me busy. I will be posting the last chapters to this story tonight, including the first for **PnF: Sick Streak** and the next chapter for **DP: Gaining Trust.** If you guys want descriptions for the Phineas and Ferb stories, go check out my dA page, okie doke? Time is tight for me now that i'm in art school XD_

_Enjoy this chapter. It made me smile to write it._

* * *

It was nearing two thirty in the afternoon. So far, Phineas had been able to spend it in his room, and without pulling out his sketchbook.

Not once.

Perry did not seem the least bit pleased about it. Several times that day, he had pulled out the book or even handed Phineas the backscratcher the boy had made for him. But Phineas only pushed the objects away or told Perry to stop going through his things. By two o'clock, Perry had given up and was now lying on the boy's bed, wondering why he had to have a week off while Doofenshmirtz recovered from his hospitalization.

Phineas was busy playing another level on the game he and Ferb had beaten numerous times already when there came a knock on his bedroom door. Without looking up, Phineas groaned and tossed his game aside. "I'm fifteen, Mom," he called out, leaning his head against the window and staring over the yard. "Just because I stay in my room, it doesn't mean that I need you to check up on me every five minutes. I can't go anywhere…"

There was silence before another knock was heard. Phineas shut his eyes tightly. "Mom, I said I was _fine_!" he shouted. "Leave me alone!"

"I'm not Mom, Pinhead."

Phineas opened his eyes and raised his eyebrows before turning his head quickly. Standing in the doorway with the door wide open, was Candace, his nineteen-year-old sister. The young woman was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, and her long, red hair tied in a loose but neat ponytail. She grinned weakly and raised an eyebrow.

Phineas blinked several times before finally speaking. "Candace?" he said. "What are you doing here?"

His sister shrugged. "Apparently, my baby brother is having a teenage crisis," she replied. "Which would be _normal_, if my brother was a _normal_ kid. But he's not. He's an inventor, who's been doing crazy things every single day of his life. So that makes it a problem." Candace straightened out and nodded into the hallway. "I felt like going to get some icecream at the park before they close it up for the season," she said. "Wanna join me?"

* * *

The park in autumn was the most beautiful place Phineas had ever imagined to exist in Danville. Even when everything was decorated for Christmas, it could never measure up to the amount of colors Nature dished out. All the trees were red, orange or yellow; only a few were still green. Ducks and geese drifted over the water, quacking or honking at each other about the yearly route they would need to take.

There were no children at that time of day, playing in the park, since they were all in school; which left a giant emptiness where Phineas had always believed to hear laughter and shouts. He, Ferb, Isabella and other children had grown up playing in the leaves in the park. It felt odd to be there when children were in school.

The fifteen-year-old waited patiently on a park bench while his sister bought two icecream cones from the small shop that sat in the park. It had been a favourite place of theirs since they had been children. According to the Flynns, it was the best place to get ice cream in the entire tri-state area.

The sun was out and warming his skin, but Phineas tightened his striped scarf and stuck his hands in his pockets nonetheless. While he was warm on the outside, he was still cold on the inside.

Approaching footsteps caught his attention and he looked up in time to see Candace stop before him. She held out a two-scoop cone of striped orange and black ice cream while keeping a one-scoop cone of a beige coloured ice cream nearest to her.

Phineas pulled his hands out of his pockets and stood up.

"Two-scoop Tiger for you," Candace announced as her brother took the ice cream, "And one-scoop Cookie Dough for me. _Bon appétit." _

As they began licking their cones, they turned and strolled down the path that led around the giant pond. "Every time we went to get ice cream," Candace added, "You _always_ asked Dad to get you Tiger. _Always_. It was never something else." She smiled and looked at Phineas. "Remember how he used to take us here every Friday after I was back from school? He'd get you Tiger, get me Cookie Dough, and then he'd ask for Raspberry."

"If I recall, you always asked for the same flavour too," Phineas pointed out with a grin.

"At least I've tried different kinds."

"So have I… I just like Tiger the most."

"And you wanted to have three scoops, just like Dad. But he wouldn't get you that much because your stomach thought before your brain did."

Phineas laughed softly before licking his ice cream again. "Was not, I just wanted to be like him, that's all," he said.

"You _do_ realize that three scoops was too much ice cream for a two-year-old, right?" Candace pointed out.

"I had a wild imagination, remember?"

"Not wild; manic."

They both laughed for a moment or two before falling silent again. It was not often that Candace found herself spending this much time alone with only Phineas. Normally, he and Ferb were constantly together, plotting out a new creation, or else Candace would find them too annoying to bother hanging out with. But when she finally had a chance to be alone with her biological brother, she found herself relishing the moment. And her role as a big sister became more relevant.

The nineteen-year-old turned her head and looked at her brother. "Mom told me what's been going on lately," she said, although Phineas did not raise his head and look at her. "She told me that you were there when they pulled Ferb out of the wreckage." She licked her ice cream again. "Ferb's a tough guy, Phineas. He made it through the surgery, and his concussion is beginning to heal. I thought Mom told you that he'd be back on two feet before the month is up?"

"She… and Dad mentioned something like that," Phineas replied quietly. He licked his ice cream before continuing. "But it's not just the fact that Ferb's in the hospital that's bugging me anymore, Candace. It's a lot more complicating—!"

"Like _Dad's accident_ complicating?"

Phineas almost flinched at the words. He sighed heavily and stared sadly at his feet. "Yeah," he replied. He bit into the ice cream, sucked on it in his mouth and then spoke again. "I… had a dream about that night, last night," he announced. "You know… when the cops came at the door and—!"

"—I remember, Phineas, you don't need to remind me," Candace replied, although her voice was soft. "I'm surprised you remember that much. You were only two."

"At first, I couldn't remember much. But the more these days have been passing by, the more I found that I did remember a lot. I remember them telling us what happened; I remember you and Mom crying; I remember the funeral, the messy garage piling up with junk that Mom never had time to throw out—!"

"Which ended up being a good thing for you and Ferb," Candace pointed out.

"I… yeah…" Phineas paused here before continuing. His voice was heavy. "And I… remember that bedtime story that stopped being told…" He swallowed the last of his ice cream, along with the cone, and then stuffed the napkin into his jean pocket. "I can still remember how he started every single story, every night…" He held out his hands before him dramatically. "'Once upon a time, there was an inventor named Phineas Flynn, who came up with the _biggest idea ever_…'" He put his arms down and stared at the ground sadly. "It was the part of bedtime that I looked forward to every night. He made his job seem so much _cooler_ than people said it was." He held up his hands as though holding something small. "And when he gave me Perry for Christmas that one year! He had actually gotten me a pet platypus! He said that he had been bought illegally by a hunter, and he saved him, and brought him home just for me! So I asked if we could include him in the stories…"

Candace stared at him in shock. "Wow, you _do_ remember a lot," she said in awe.

Phineas dropped his arms again. "But that's what's been bothering me," he moaned. "It's all the _good_ stuff that I can remember. I just…" He shook his head as tears filled his eyes. "When I saw them pull Ferb out of that car, I totally freaked out. I just can't imagine a car accident and hospital being good together. I mean, look what happened to…" His voice choked as he raised his sleeve and wiped his eyes. "… Look what it did to Dad," he squeaked.

Candace was beginning to wonder if her mother had asked too _big_ of a favour from her. This was the very first time she had seen Phineas break down this badly. He hardly, if ever, got this scared about something. What was she supposed to say to turn things around?

There were a few picnic tables coming up. With a determined frown, Candace grabbed Phineas' arm and pulled him towards the nearest one. She sat him down and took a seat across from him. "Phineas, I'm going to tell you this _straight_ off the bat right now," she said sternly. "Ferb is _not_ going to die. The accident he was in was nowhere _near_ as bad as the one Dad was in. So, the car flipped; Ferb just got a concussion, a broken leg and a fractured wrist." Candace held up her hands in front of Phineas' face while frowning even more. "If I was to tell you how many injuries Dad had, you would have nightmares for _weeks_, Phineas. I couldn't get over that list for that long. Consider yourself _lucky_ you can't remember that, and consider yourself lucky that Dad decided not to take you along with him. Because if he did, that semi-truck would have killed you instantly."

Phineas almost cowered in fear. He attempted to hide part of his face between his raised shoulders.

Candace stared at him in silence before sighing and passing a hand over her face. "Phin, Ferb will be back on his feet by Halloween, for Pete's sake," she said. "Though honestly, what you remember about the two accidents is not what's concerning me right now…" She pointed at her brother. "It's your depression that's freaking me out."

Phineas remained silent as Candace's stern expressions melted away. Concern replaced it. "Phineas, you're too dang _positive_ to be depressed!" she exclaimed. "You're that geeky ten-year-old who built a _roller coaster_ across Danville! You're that _brilliant_ kid who fixed a time machine and traveled through time _twice! _You're that child prodigy who learned how to speak full sentences by the age of three, and you were _already_ an artist!" She held out her index finger and pushed down against Phineas' chest. "YOU. ARE. TOO. HAPPY. TO. BE. SAD. The only time I ever heard you _yell_ at anyone was when I refused to ride that dorky little tricycle back when we had traveled around the world! That's the only time I heard you snap!

"And you know what's more? Mom told me that you've stopped inventing things! You haven't been getting up a six in the morning and designing these nerdy little doodads to help out around the house or something! You haven't even been _drawing_ in that sketchbook!" Candace frowned again and pressed her finger against Phineas' forehead. "Did you lose one too many marbles when you saw them pull Ferb out of that car? You can't stop inventing things because our brother's in the hospital, Phineas Flynn! YOU JUST CAN'T!"

Phineas flinched every time his sister laid her finger on him. He was even more startled when she told him strictly _not_ to stop inventing. When her finger was pulled away, he placed his hands on his cheeks and his elbows on the table's surface. "Candace, I'm scared out of my _mind_," he pointed out. "Car accidents scare me, and now that Ferb's been part of one, nothing will ever be the same again…"

"True, nothing will be," Candace agreed. "But it doesn't mean that you need to treat things like the world is going to end." Worry filled her eyes again as she grabbed her brother's hands and held them. "Phineas, Ferb is going to survive. You need to push Dad's accident aside and consider Ferb's to be a whole new thing. It's not the same. He's going to come home. He'll be back on his two feet, and what's better…" She smiled pitifully. "You two are going to be inventing like you've never invented before, all over again. You'll be doing the same crazy and impossible stunts you did when you were ten years old. It's okay to be scared for Ferb's sake, Phin, but _don't_ let it control you."

Candace pulled her hands away from Phineas' and traced circles on the table. "Remember how Dad used to drag in all these old pieces of junk he found in the streets after work?" she said. "It drove Mom mad. She hated it that he came home with garbage. But Dad said that it wasn't garbage; it was something old and he was going to make it into something new."

She looked at Phineas again. "You're a lot like him, Phineas. The way you talk, the way you think, the way you can design and build those contraptions that drove me completely bonkers through high school. You get excited about every little thing that's new, and about every little idea you come up with. You always say, 'Hey, Ferb! I know what we're gonna do today!' at _least_ once a day. And you say it with so much eagerness, it's impossible for anyone not to be the least bit curious. Even me, while I was trying to bust you, I couldn't help but get curious about what idea you had in mind. That's Dad, right there in the package.

"Dad's death was hard on all of us, Phineas. And after hearing what Mom said you've been up to, I know how hard Ferb's accident has been on you. You're scared stiff of losing someone else who meant the world to you. Dad was your role model, your hero; I've known it for years. At the age of two, you made it clear that you were going to be an inventor. Just like Dad. You wanted to build things out of nothing. Dad's toolboxes, his gadgets in the basement, all the contraptions he built for us, they made your eyes shine. And his little Tinker box, the one he kept all of his favourite parts and tools in; you would go bonkers whenever he opened it. Dad was special. Dad was the guy you wanted to be when you grew up.

"I can totally understand that Ferb's accident freaked you out, Phineas. Ferb's been your best friend since he moved in with us. You two have been together since Mom and Dad—uh, our second dad—got married. You guys were breaking my toys and putting them back together again in better combinations. You had found the guy you wanted to work with. You had found the guy who was interested in the same things as you were, and didn't think you were weird in the least. So when you saw your best friend and brother get pulled out of that smashed up car, I can understand how much you thought it was Dad dying all over again."

Candace placed a hand over Phineas'. The fifteen-year-old looked at it for a moment before he raised his tearful eyes and stared at his sister.

"You've got a wonderful gift, Phineas," Candace said gently. "You can make people laugh, you can make people smile, by a simple idea. You only think about helping people while making an adventure out of it. You're a tinkerer, an inventor. And the _last_ thing I want to see before I get married in spring is my little brother giving up just because of a freak accident that didn't end up being so bad after all."

The nineteen-year-old woman leaned forward over the table while smiling. "And I _really_ don't think Ferb would be happy to hear that you've given up on inventing, just because he's stuck in a hospital," she said. "If you think about it, Phineas, are you _really_ enjoying not inventing anything? Are you not drawing because you don't _feel_ like it, or are you avoiding the idea because you're afraid? And if you are afraid, what are you afraid of? And how would that really be affecting your creativity?" She tilted her head. "Are you _really_ enjoying not opening that book, Phineas?" she repeated.

Phineas stared at her in silence for a moment before looking down at his hands again. "… No," he whispered. "In fact, not drawing is probably making me feel even more useless than I already feel."

"Then, in the words Dad used to say, 'If you've got an itching for sketching, pick up that pencil and draw!'" Candace stopped here for a moment and made a grimace while her brother laughed. "Mmmyeah, Mom was right; that _did_ sound corny," she muttered.

"But convincing," Phineas added through a final giggle. He looked at his hands again, and his eyes grew dark once more. Sighing heavily, he said, "But I don't know what to invent. After spending so much time worrying about Ferb and then wondering why Dad didn't survive that crash, my imagination's gone rusty."

"That's impossible, especially for a kid like you, Phin," Candace replied, reaching over and rubbing her brother's head. "Though I still can't help but get teed off that Mom still doesn't believe me about all those stunts you guys pulled—and are _still_ pulling—I know, without a doubt, that your imagination is going to be the _last_ thing about you that goes rusty."

"But Ferb's usually the guy who _builds_ the stuff, Candace," Phineas pointed out. "I just invent! I can't build my contraptions anywhere _near_ as quickly or as efficiently as he can!"

"True, but you can still do it."

"But without Ferb—!"

Candace rolled her eyes. "Phineas, forget about Ferb being able to build better than you for just one second," she said. "And imagine yourself in his position. Not as a builder, but as the teenager sitting in that hospital bed as we speak."

Phineas immediately fell silent and stared at his sister, expecting her to explain.

Which she did. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but here goes," Candace sighed. Placing her hands on Phineas' shoulders, she opened her mouth: "Phineas Flynn, I'm challenging you to come up with the _biggest_ idea you have _ever_ come up with. And the person in mind for this project: Ferb Fletcher."

Phineas raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Stunning, I know," Candace muttered sarcastically. "But if you ask me, Phin, I don't think anything will make Ferb feel better about being stuck in that hospital than an invention that his little brother came up with on his own, just for him." She smiled warmly. "I think it'll make his day to see you invent something again, don't you?"

Her brother remained silent. For a moment, he thought about the challenge Candace was proposing. She hardly, if ever, wanted anything to do with her brothers' insane ideas, but here she was, challenging him to come up with the biggest idea he could ever come up with.

After a moment of thinking it through and rubbing his chin pensively, Phineas smiled and looked up at his sister. "I accept your challenge," he said boldly, making Candace grin even more.

Now, all he had to do was come up with the idea.


	12. Chapter 12

"I am afraid to ask, but… did he text you… at _all?"_

Isabella could sense the concern in Baljeet's voice when he asked her that morning at school. With a pitiful look, she shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry, Baljeet, but Phineas hasn't contacted me since our argument."

"How can you call it an argument, if you were never arguing in the first place?" Buford pointed out. "I mean, _he _was the one getting ticked at you."

"Fact remains; Phineas hasn't contacted me since I last called him," the teenage girl replied. She hugged herself and leaned against the lockers. She had just completed another practice of cheerleading, and so she was still dressed in her red and white uniform.

Baljeet moaned and closed his locker. "I cannot take this any longer!" he cried out in despair. "I _need _to hear something from either of those two or I will burst!"

"Since when did _you _care that much?" Buford snorted. He was replied by a swift slap on the arm from Isabella.

"Since Phineas and Ferb have been the greatest friends anyone could have," Baljeet replied. "That and it is simply unnatural to go more than a day—no, _less _than a day—without seeing Phineas smile or say, 'I know what we're gonna do today!'" He dropped to his knees and moaned. "Oh, great forces that be; let me hear that line again! Show me where the Phineas I grew up with went! SHOW ME NOW!"

"I'm right here, Baljeet."

Baljeet uncovered his face and gasped before turning his head and staring in the same direction that Isabella and Buford were.

Phineas walked up to them, one hand around his bag strap that was over his shoulder; and to his friends' complete shock and then great relief, he was wearing a smile.

Not a large one, nor a strong one at that, but he was grinning nonetheless.

"Phineas!" Isabella exclaimed as Baljeet rose to his feet.

Phineas stopped by his locker and was about to say hello when Baljeet wrapped his arms around his friend's waist and hugged as tightly as he could. Phineas yelped in surprise and nearly fell to the ground. "OH, THANK YOU POWERS THAT BE! I HAVE MISSED YOU!" the Hindi teenager cried out. "Are you really you this time, Phineas? Please say yes! Please!"

"If it makes you feel better, Baljeet, I never left in the first place," Phineas said behind a painful laugh. "But there won't be much left of me if you don't let me _breathe!"_

While Baljeet released his companion, Isabella and Buford leaned towards the red-headed teenager. "Are you _really _back to normal?" Buford asked suspiciously as Phineas opened his locker. "Cuz ya ain't lookin' that happy yet."

Phineas grinned again while removing his coat. "My brother _is _still in the hospital," he pointed out.

"… Point taken."

"Where were you yesterday?" Baljeet wondered.

"At home," Phineas replied.

"Not _sick. _You _never _get sick."

"I… had a lot of thinking to do. You could say I had a nervous breakdown."

"Is it about Ferb?" Isabella asked.

Phineas ceased looking through his things and stared at his friend in silence. It was not a harsh stare—in fact, his eyes were very gentle; but Isabella quickly blushed embarrassingly anyway and looked away in shame.

Phineas blinked a few times before looking into his locker again. "Yes and no," he replied. "It also had to do with another car accident… Which would be the reason why I freaked out about Ferb's in the first place."

"You saw another car accident?" Baljeet said in horror. "Oh, Phineas! Was it as bad as Ferb's?"

"I didn't actually _see _this one, Jeet. I just… experienced the hurt first hand."

"How does that make any sense?" Buford said sceptically.

Phineas pulled out his binder and looked at it. He hesitated for a moment before finally opening his mouth again. "My… biological father was killed in a car accident, Buford," he said softly. "A drunk semi-truck driver hit him head on a few blocks from our house."

This piece of news was enough to make even Buford go pale in the face. Baljeet covered his mouth and gasped while Isabella turned her head in their direction in shock.

"When did that happen?" Buford asked.

Phineas shrugged. "When I was two," he replied. He waved a hand in the air. "But I don't feel like going into details about that night, so let's drop the subject. You guys know now why I took Ferb's accident so seriously. So yesterday, I stayed at home to relax and… do some thinking… And came to realize that Ferb's accident isn't anywhere as bad as my biological father's was." He raised his head and grinned at his friends. "In fact, he'll be back on his feet by Halloween."

These words were exactly what the others were hoping to hear. Baljeet and Isabella immediately threw their arms into the air and cheered happily. Buford simply nodded with satisfaction and crossed his arms, obviously considering himself too _cool_ to leap for joy.

"That is great! We will be a group again!" Baljeet said.

Phineas hoisted up his backpack. "True, but he still needs to stay in the hospital until next Wendesday," he pointed out, "So, although I won't have any time to think up anything for today's lunch hour, I plan on spending my free time today and possibly tomorrow in order to come up with the _biggest_ idea I have _ever _come up with." He smiled with determination. "And Ferb is going to be the intended audience."

"He _is_ back! I knew he would be!" Baljeet cheered again. Leaning towards Phineas, he added, "So, Phineas; what do you plan on doing?"

At these words, Phineas' smile washed away and was replaced by a nervous look. "Uh, well, _that's _where my problem is," he said, rubbing his neck. "I… don't know yet."

Baljeet's jaw dropped in disbelief.

"But give me until lunch hour, BJ. I should be able to come up with something by then."

"You sure you ain't chickening out again?" Buford asked suspiciously.

"Believe me when I say this, Bufe," Phineas replied with another grin while pointing at himself. "Phineas Flynn is back."

The five-minute bell rang loudly through the hallways and the students that were around them grabbed their things and raced to class. Grabbing Baljeet around the neck with his arm, Buford announced that he had some business to take care of from the day before and would meet them in class.

Baljeet was too overjoyed about Phineas' return to realize that he was about to get stuffed into another locker.

Phineas watched them leave before turning to look at his neighbour from across the street. Isabella had already turned and was heading off to get changed for class.

"Isabella, wait," Phineas said, reaching out and grabbing her wrist. This movement caused the girl to stop in her tracks and turn around. After calming the blush that was yet again forming over his face, Phineas cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I, uh, I want to apologize for the way I spoke to you the other day," he said. "I just didn't want to share that story about my dad with you yet, mainly for the fact that it was making me feel worse, and all your curious but good questions were making me feel cornered." He looked at his hands. "But yelling at you like that was the last thing I have ever wanted to do, so… I'm really sorry." He looked up at her with dark blue eyes. "Can you forgive me?"

Isabella was incredibly touched by the words he spoke, but did not dare point out to him that he had just unintentionally said something romantic: _'yelling at you like that was the last thing I have ever wanted to do_…' Instead, she covered her blush and placed her hand over Phineas'. With a warm smile, she said, "Of course I do."

Phineas seemed relieved to hear these words from her.

"And I'm sorry I was so nosy," Isabella went on. "As a best friend, I need to respect your privacy and just be patient. Especially with such a good friend as you, Phineas." She looked away for a moment. "Although his cluelessness could be polished up just a tad," she added under her breath.

"What was that?" Phineas asked with a confused frown.

Isabella looked at him again and smiled widely. "Nothing!" she replied quickly. Letting Phineas' hand go, she added, "I'd better go get changed before I get a tardy. Unlike Buford, I care about my grades." She took a few steps off before stopping and coming back to her best friend.

Phineas watched her do so and then felt his entire body go completely rigid as Isabella leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. His eyes widened in shock as his heart began to beat madly against his ribcage, making his chest so hot, it pushed up his neck until it had turned his entire face red.

Isabella leaned back with a grin. "I'm glad you're back to normal," she said.

Phineas blinked several times quickly before shaking out an incredibly large shiver and clearing his throat. Baring his teeth in a wide yet nervous smile, he tried shaking out his emotions by laughing nervously. "M-m-m-m-me too-o-o-o," he managed to stutter behind his teeth.

Isabella giggled for a moment before pushing some hair back and walking off. "See you in class, Phineas," she called out before disappearing around the corner.

Phineas watched her leave before shaking his head madly in order to get rid of the feeling. While whistling, he grabbed the collar of his sweater and expired loudly. "Pretty hot, all of a sudden," he mumbled before turning and running off.

Unbeknownst to him, Isabella had remained behind, just out of his eyesight, and watched him pull himself out of the trance she had seen him in so many times before. Although she knew he was still oblivious to the fact that she had deep feelings for him, she could not help but be amused by how much his emotions overreacted in certain occasions.

Isabella giggled. "He'll catch on," she reassured herself before leaving. "Eventually."

* * *

Morning went by immensely slowly for Phineas. Although he tried his best to concentrate during class, the one thing that was constantly returning to mind was the fact that he had to do something for Ferb.

"_Phineas Flynn, I'm challenging you to come up with the _biggest_ idea you have _ever_ come up with,"_ Candace's words echoed over and over again in his mind.

By study period, the hour before lunch, the fifteen-year-old had still been unsuccessful at coming up with an idea for his stepbrother.

He wracked his mind while pretending to study for math. _Why am I coming up with nothing but… _nothing? He thought. He pulled out his sketchbook and stared at its cover. Two pieces of duct tape were placed over it with the words _Phineas' Ideas_ written in felt marker. A quick doodle of a platypus had been drawn directly onto the cover by Phineas' signature.

The teenager made a frustrated scowl. _Come on, Phin; since when have you let yourself down?_ He opened the book and looked at all the pictures he had drawn. _You built a rollercoaster; you fixed a time machine; you built Santa a spa; you built a molecular transporter; you've even gone to the moon. And you did all of these things the summer you were ten years old._

_What else have you done? Well, you built that teleporter during the summer you were eleven; you built that flying motorcycle when you were twelve; the underground pool complete with an underground waterslide when you were thirteen-huh; wonder what happened to that anyway? That flying saucer for Meap when you were fourteen; the rocket that could fly all the way to Saturn and back, just this past summer… Every day of every summer for the past five years, you designed all of those things to help people or to make every day worth spending. You even managed to keep up the tradition on Christmas vacation, Spring vacation and even every lunch hour at school! You even did it on weekends, granted you weren't busy with homework._

_You did all of that! All of that with no one but your own brother, Ferb! And he was the one who built everything, or at least did it more efficiently than you ever could. And he's the one lying in a hospital bed right now, doing nothing. He deserves something more than anyone on this planet! He's the guy who was able to put up with your ideas, excitement, obliviousness and chatter box ever since he moved in with you! He deserves something big! Something grand! Something that no one has ever seen before—!_

A pencil poked into his side. Phineas pulled himself out of his trail of thought and turned his head.

"Psst, Phineas," Baljeet whispered as he, Buford and Isabella looked at the young inventor. "Have you come up with anything yet?"

Phineas stared at them in silence before shaking his head. "Nothing yet," he replied, turning away and continuing to think.

Silence fell over them again until Baljeet could not contain himself any longer. He reached over and poked the teenager's back again. "How about now?" he whispered.

Phineas raised an eyebrow before turning away again. "No," he replied.

Five more minutes passed. Again with the pencil. Phineas tried not to look impatient.

"And now?"

"_No,"_ Phineas said with a soft frown.

Another five minutes. Another pencil poke. "And now?"

"_Nooo, _Baljeet."

"… How 'bout now?"

Phineas grasped his head in his hands while hunching his back. He tried not to groan.

Baljeet poked his back again. "Phineas, have you—!"

"NO!" Phineas exclaimed, turning around quickly and making the others jump back.

The teacher cleared her throat. "Phineas, is there a problem?" she asked.

Phineas looked at her and smiled innocently. "No, Ma'am," he replied. "Sorry, Ma'am." Once the teacher had turned away, the teenager rolled his eyes and looked at Baljeet with a slightly irritated glare. "Give me longer than five minutes to think, Baljeet, and maybe I _will _come up with an idea," he whispered, trying not to sound too harsh.

"I am sorry," Baljeet apologized. "I am just eager to hear your next big idea."

"It's not coming quickly, and poking me in the back isn't going to help either."

"Sorry…"

Phineas could not help but smile compassionately. With a gentle nod, he turned back to his sketchbook and went through his ideas again.

"Maybe we could suggest things," Buford wondered.

Isabella scoffed. "Your ideas never turned out right," she replied. "Let's try making a list of things Ferb likes instead."

"How's _that_ going to help?"

"Well, if Phineas is having difficulty, it could give him a bit of a boost."

"Okay… well, he likes building things… and planning things… He also likes chocolate icecream… and airplanes… anything that's remote controlled… He's good at video games… and music… and he _loves_ books…"

"Gee wiz, the list will go on!" Baljeet said in exasperation. "Ferb is good at everything! Maybe if we thought of the things he's never done before…"

_Before…_

The word caught Phineas' attention. The fifteen-year-old ceased scribbling on an empty page in his sketchbook and listened to the conversation his friends were having.

"Like what, Nerd?" Buford scoffed.

Isabella held up her hand. "No, he's got a good point, Buford. Let's think of those. It could narrow our search down…" She tapped her chin. "Well, he's… never built a machine that could project light, right?"

"Didn't he? I mean, he and Phineas have been doing things for the past five years, Isabella. And that's _every_ 365 days. Not counting that one leap year. _That _extra day was just _bonkers._"

"But other than a rainbow machine, I'll bet they never dealt with light before… Maybe something that flies, like a shooting star… or _fireworks…"_

_Fireworks… fireworks… fireworks…_

Phineas raised his head and eyebrows in revelation.

_Make me a Shooting star… or fireworks…_

_

* * *

_

"_He's been throwing up all afternoon."_

"_Aww; his motor finally sputter?"_

"_Francis, that's not funny. He's two years old."_

"_Linda, maybe you're paying too much attention to what goes into that stomach of his. Try feeding something else. What Phineas is missing is a lack of balance."_

"_How does _that _help his flu?"_

"_Just watch, okay?"_

_Phineas could hear his parents speaking outside his bedroom door. When the door began to open, he immediately sat up in bed._

_His father peered into the room and smiled. "Hey, Imagination Station," the man greeted while walking into the dark room. "I heard you've been feeling queasy today."_

_Phineas shook his head, but this made him dizzy and he immediately fell back against his pillow with a moan._

"_Yeah, I think you should just stay lying down, Kiddo," the red-headed man chuckled while sitting down by the bed._

_The toddler opened his eyes and looked at him. "I want Pehwy," he squeaked sickly._

"_Phineas, Perry needs to stay in Candace's room until you feel better," his father explained gently. "You don't want him getting sick, do you?"_

"_No… but I'm bored… An' Mommy won't let me go see the fireworks tonight… But I wanna…I weally wanna…"_

_Francis rubbed the boy's head. "Well, considering you _are _going to miss those, I made something _extra _special for you at work today," he said with a grin._

_His son's face lit up and a smile spread over his lips. "Anover invention?" he asked._

"_Even better." The man turned around and pulled out a tiny little star._

_Phineas sat up and leaned forward. He frowned disappointingly. "Dat's a plastic star," he said. "An' it's littler than my hand."_

"_True, it is pretty small, isn't it?" his father agreed. "Took me all day to finish it."_

"Dat's _not an invention. Dat's somefin' I can choke on. Mommy says so. Dat can't be a big idea."_

"_Quite the contrary, Phineas; often times, the biggest ideas looks like the smallest." Francis pulled out a remote control and activated it. "And sometimes… the simplest designs are the best inventions created."_

_He flipped a switch, and the tiny star suddenly lit up. Phineas gasped and leaned forward a bit more. As he did, his father flipped another switch and the star immediately shot up into the air, trailing behind it a tail of golden glitter._

"_Oooh, _coooooooolllllll!"_ Phineas exclaimed as his father controlled the movement of the star. "It's a _flyin'_ star!"_

"_Not bad, eh?" Francis laughed. "I thought you'd like it. You always seemed to like my fireworks and the stars outside. So I thought I'd build you your very own flying star. Pretty neat, huh?"_

"_Can I try?"_

"_Sorry, Phineas, but you're still a little too young to be playing with these." The man made the star dance about and flip here and there before reaching up and plucking it from the air. He held it at eyelevel for his son. "This can be yours when you're old enough," he said, putting the star in the boy's hand. "You can hold it for now, but I need to take it back after. I'll turn it into a keychain and give it to your mom so that she can give it to you when you turn five. That should be old enough."_

"_Why can't I have it now?" Phineas asked, slightly disappointed._

"_You don't want it to break, do you?" When the boy shook his head, Francis reached over and placed an arm around the toddler. "There's another thing I want to tell you, Phin; a secret we inventors like to keep to ourselves: each invention should be passed on, but in a better way. I made this little star for my little Imagination Station…" He grabbed Phineas' nose and gently pinched it, making the boy giggle. "… You… So one day, you need to promise me that you'll pass it on to someone else. An invention is only worth inventing when you have someone in mind. That's what makes it special."_

"_But what if I wannit all to m'self? I don't wanna share dis one."_

"_Then I might as well take it back, because _I'm _the one who invented it, remember?"_

_Phineas giggled and looked up at his father again. "Okay, den," he said. "I'll find someone to share it wif. Like an inventor. Jes like you."_

_Francis smiled and pecked the boy's head. "I know you will," he whispered before climbing onto the bed and lying down next to his son. "Considering you promised me that, I'll put on a bit of a light show for you until you fall asleep, okay? And at the same time, I'll tell you another story about the Greatest Inventor, Phineas Flynn."_

"_An' don't ferget his pet platypus, Pehwy!"_

"_Of course not; how could I forget him?"_

_

* * *

_

Phineas stared at his sketchbook as his friends continued going through the list of things Ferb had never done. Then, once the flashback had finished, the teenager reached down to his bag, pulled out his pair of house keys and held them up to his eyes.

Dangling from one of the keys, chained securely to it, was the tiny star he had received from his biological father thirteen years ago. He had never gotten the remote from his mother—Linda had stated that it had gone missing or else it was broken, but Phineas knew that she had just tossed it out to keep her son from playing with it. So he was never able to truly put the star's magic to the test again.

Until now, when he had a good reason to do so.

Light bulbs lit up by the dozen in his brain as a smile spread over his lips. Phineas grasped the star and the keys in his hand before rising rapidly to his feet. "That's it!" he exclaimed, catching everyone's, even the teacher and the other students, attention. "That's it, I've got it!" he looked at his friends and spread out his arms. "I know what we're gonna do today!"

"_We?"_ Buford echoed. "What do you mean _we?"_

"All four of us! I'm gonna need your help with this project!"

"Us?" Baljeet said, pointing at himself.

Before Phineas could continue, the teacher stood up. "Phineas Flynn, may I remind you that this is a study period," she said sternly. "So would you be so kind as to keep your voice down and take your seat, lest you wish to be sent to the principal's office for your… _optimism."_

Although he had noticed the hint of venom in that voice, Phineas did what he was told and sat down; however, he turned around in his seat and looked at his friends. "Guys, I got my biggest idea!" he said in an excited yet hushed tone. "And it's going to be _the _biggest thing we do without Ferb's help! It's completely fool proof!"

"Stop jabberin' about how good it is then and get on with tellin' us what it is, Dinner Bell!" Buford said impatiently.

Isabella clasped her hands together. "Give us the details, Phineas!" she said. "Whatever needs to be done, let's get it done!"

Phineas leaned forward with his sketchbook as the others did the same, and began explaining his biggest idea ever.


	13. Chapter 13

"What's he up to out there?"

Linda looked up from her work in the kitchen. "Who?" she wondered.

Lawrence sipped his coffee and continued to stare out the back patio door window. "Phineas," he replied. "He ran in here earlier today when he got off of the bus, and Isabella was with him… Now it looks as though Buford and Baljeet have arrived."

"What?" Linda wiped her hands on her apron and walked over to where her husband stood. She too looked out over the yard.

There was Phineas, out by the tree in their backyard. In his hands was a giant rolled up paper of some sort. Once Baljeet and Buford had taken their seats next to Isabella on the ground, Phineas unrolled his paper and set it down before them while talking excitedly about certain tasks he would assign each of his friends to.

"Well, what do you know?" Lawrence chuckled. "He's inventing again! And blimey, what a huge blueprint that is. I wonder what he's up to now?"

"He's happy again, so honestly, I couldn't care less this time," Linda replied with a smile. "As long as he doesn't kill himself, I'll let him stay up as late as the others are allowed."

"I wonder if he's doing something for Ferb?" Lawrence speculated as he and Linda walked off.

"Knowing Phineas, he won't tell us until it's finished. So we might as well be patient."

As they spoke, Perry secretly slipped into the kitchen through the cupboard. He had been gone all day once more, this time just to clean up the rest of the mess his nemesis left behind. According to the Major, Doofenshmirtz would be back to his own self again by the end of the weekend.

After making sure the coast was clear, Perry removed his hat and got on all fours as he normally did while at home. He was about to walk past the patio doors when he noticed the teenagers in the backyard. Stopping, he sat down and stared at the commotion.

Phineas was back on his feet now, pointing in different directions while shouting out orders to his friends. First, Buford saluted him and dashed off; next, Baljeet and Isabella nodded and shouted their agreement before running off in a different direction. Phineas looked at his blueprints again, a wide grin on his face, and then looked up at the house; that's when he noticed Perry sitting on the other side of the patio door.

Perry cocked his head a little and tried not to show too much pride. Unfortunately, Phineas had already noticed it. The teenager smiled back and pointed at the blueprint in his hands before waving and running off towards the garage.

Perry finally grinned. But he had only a few seconds to do so before Lawrence walked back into the kitchen. The platypus immediately got back on all fours and chattered behind his teeth like he normally did.

"Oh, there you are, Perry," the man said, reaching down and petting the animal. "Where have you been all day? Probably out and about as usual, eh?" He looked up into the yard, just as Phineas and Baljeet returned to the tree with their arms filled with parts. "Admiring his handy work, hm? I'd have to agree with you… It's certainly nice to see him at it again."

Sure that the man was not looking, Perry smiled again and looked on once more.

* * *

Phineas worked on with his friends until nearly ten at night. By then, Buford and Baljeet had to head home, and after an extra half hour, Isabella left as well.

But Phineas never stopped working. He worked on into the early hours of the morning, only going to bed when his mother ordered him to come back in at one thirty. Even though he did, he remained awake for another hour, going over the blueprint and changing things here and there where they had to be changed.

At six o'clock on Saturday morning, he was back outside in the yard, working on his creation. Isabella, Baljeet and Buford returned once nine o'clock had come and gone, like they had promised to.

It was nearly two in the afternoon when the teenagers were finishing with the paint. Buford had bought the kind that Phineas had instructed him to, and now, they were putting on the second coat.

"Are you sure this is going to dry fast enough by this evening?" Baljeet asked.

Phineas continued to fiddle with the controls inside the machine. "Sure, I'm sure," he replied. "Ferb's bought this kind of paint several times before. We used it on a lot of our inventions as kids. That's why they were all different colours."

"As long as it does not stain, I guess that is good."

Isabella tightened her ponytail and looked up at Phineas next. "And are you sure this is going to work, Phineas?" she asked. "I mean, we built this following your blueprints, but Ferb can usually catch something wrong by now."

"It'll work, trust me," Phineas reassured her. "I was up until two thirty pouring through his old journals on machinery that we've built together and made all the adjustments then." He raised his head and smiled at his best friend. "This is going to work; I'm 110% sure of it."

"That is not literally possible, you know," Baljeet pointed out. He was replied by a swat across the head from Buford.

All Phineas did was smile in return. He knew it would work. He had taken apart the small star his biological father had given him and studied every single component of it. He had taken apart the remote control spaceship Meap had sent him and Ferb for Christmas the year before. He even had Perry give a few pointers before the platypus switched beds in order to sleep.

It was fool proof. He knew more than anyone that it was.

* * *

The hospital was fairly quiet by this time of day, especially on Saturdays. Most visitors came during the afternoon to visit the patients. That was what Candace and Jeremy were planning on doing, but when Suzy, Jeremy's little sister, ordered him to come by and help with the project again, they had to postpone their visit until six that evening.

By then, the moon was already shining, and the stars were out by the dozens.

Candace peered into the hospital room and grinned before raising her knuckle and knocking on the open door. "Hey, Brat Number Two," she greeted.

Ferb, dressed in a usual hospital gown, looked up silently from the book he was reading in bed and managed to grin. His broken leg had been propped up, complete with the cast around it. His left wrist was also enveloped in a cast, although not as intimidating as the one around his right leg. There were still several bruises and scrapes over his face, arms and hands, but the teenager hardly seemed to be taking any heed of them.

Candace paused for just a second, noticing how odd her brother looked in his clothing and surroundings, and then walked into the room, followed by Jeremy. "We would have been here earlier, but Suzy needed Jeremy's help on her project…" She frowned. "_Again."_

"It was only for a few hours, Candace, so don't worry about it," Jeremy replied. He smiled at Ferb and held up a gift. "We went and bought you a little something, though. Just to make the room look a little more colourful."

Ferb closed his book and set it aside before reaching over and grabbing the gift. He nodded gratefully.

"It's nothing much, but we thought it would cheer you up a bit," Candace replied as her brother pulled the cap away.

Ferb looked into the box and stared at its contents; however, the smile he gave this time was very weak, and seemed forced into place as his eyes darkened. Reaching in, he pulled out a screwdriver with a bright green handle.

"Mom told us that you were meaning to buy a new one a while back, since you lost the last one," Candace pointed out. "This one comes with every single head you could think of." She placed her hands in her pockets. "I… hope that makes things a little more bearable about this place for you, Ferb."

Ferb looked up at her, but this time did not smile. With a heavy sigh, he leaned back against his pillows and studied the screwdriver sadly.

"Cheer up, Ferb," Jeremy said with a grin. "You'll be out of here in no time, doing the same amazing things you used to do. The doctor _did_ say that you'll be walking and running again like usual, remember?"

Ferb did not reply, nor did he look up either. He only looked away.

Candace understood. "Phineas is just having a bit of a rough take off, Ferb," she explained, catching his attention. "You and I both know how much car accidents scare him. Honestly, if he hadn't been there to see them drag you out, his crazy imagination probably wouldn't have him believing that you'd be suffering in here."

Ferb nodded weakly but turned his gaze away again. He had been hoping all week to see or even hear from his brother—even after knowing the horrible tragedy that had befallen Phineas and Candace's biological father. The more the days of exercise at the hospital had trudged on, the more concerned Ferb became for Phineas' sake.

That, and the fact that he was nowhere near his toolbox. He was missing their adventures more and more every day.

Jeremy shared a pitiful look with Candace before walking over to the window. Candace sighed and walked over to the bed instead. Placing a hand on her stepbrother's, she sat down. "He's just hit an imagination block," she reassured him with a small smile. "Phineas will be back on his feet in no time, I promise—!"

"Uuuuhhhh, Candace?" Jeremy interrupted. His voice was filled with alarm as he stared out the window with wide eyes.

His fiancée looked up. "What?" she wondered.

Without tearing his eyes away from the dark sky, Jeremy raised a hand and beckoned her over. "You'd, uh, better get Ferb out of bed to see this," he said.

Candace only frowned. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" she asked. "He's literally attached to the bed, Jeremy."

"I don't care _how_ you do it; just _do _it."

"But—!"

"Candace," Jeremy repeated, turning his head and staring at her with wide and urgent eyes. "Just _do _it!"

Still confused, Candace sighed and stood up. She looked at her brother. "Any ideas on how to get you out?" she asked.

Ferb pointed at the hook that was holding up the sling his leg was in. Although Ferb had never been one to go against the doctor's orders, he was eager to not only get his bottom out of bed, but also get to the window to see what was happening.

Candace looked at the hook and then trailed the rope that was holding it up with her eyes. Tracing it to its source, she began to carefully lower Ferb's leg and then managed, with a great amount of difficulty, to pull the leg out of the sling. Ferb made sure to make some noise if she ever did begin to cause him pain.

"Okay, put an arm around me, Kiddo," Candace sighed as Ferb slowly turned and stuck his other leg over the side of the bed. He carefully slid out onto the floor while placing his arm around his sister for support, and once he had gotten used to the cold tiles beneath his bare foot, the two of them made their way around the bed and up to the window.

Jeremy looked at them as they approached and moved aside. He had Ferb place his other arm around his shoulders and then finally smiled. "Keep your eyes on the stars, Ferb," Jeremy whispered. "You'll eventually get my drift."

They waited silently for a moment before the sky filled with a bright golden light. It flew upwards into the air high above them, trailing behind it a long tail of glitter, every single color you could think of. From afar, it looked like a firework that was sailing about, almost as though it had a mind of its own.

"What the _heck _is that?" Candace wondered in confusion.

Jeremy placed a hand on her mouth. "Just watch, Candace," he replied.

The light came closer and closer, until a shape was finally noticeable: it was a giant golden star, clearly man-made, with two rocket-like boosters that sprayed out glittering sparkles, propelling it forward. It danced energetically through the sky, eventually forming a giant image with its glittering tail.

Once the image had been completed, all three could clearly distinguish Ferb's face in glitter. It remained visible for several seconds before dripping like sparkling rain and vanishing as it fell to the ground. Next, the star spelled out the words _Get Well, Miss You_. Those eventually disappeared as well.

"I don't know about you guys, but someone is _clearly_ himself again," Jeremy said with a laugh as Candace sprouted a grin. "That's got to be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life!"

Ferb ignored him. He kept his eyes on the dancing star above, and, more than certain his eyes were not playing tricks on him, smiled when he saw a silhouette saluting him from the machine. He saw the glint on a pair of goggles, a pilot's scarf fluttering in the wind, and the familiar head he had been able to recognize since he was three.

Ferb let out a soft laugh, catching Candace and Jeremy's attention. "It's about time he comes up with something," he said in his usual soft voice.

Candace and Jeremy laughed in reply before beginning to turn Ferb around. "Come on, Mr. Fix-It; let's get you back in bed," his sister said.


	14. Chapter 14

Ferb's remaining days at the hospital passed by faster than he had anticipated. Since Saturday evening, he no longer cared about his time at the hospital, whether it went fast or not—his stepbrother's Get Well gift had made up for all the pain and trouble he had gone through before. He was not even the least bit disappointed when the doctors announced that they wanted him to stay there until Friday instead of Wednesday.

Phineas managed to survive the extra week at school without his brother. He was able to come up with a few creations, but without the extra planning with Ferb, his building sessions were much longer, and so he only managed to cook up two. But it had reassured the student body that he was "Back in Town;" his spunky personality and energetic entrances into class had proven that point quite well the following Monday.

Phineas never visited Ferb at the hospital, considering what they had both gone through, but he did begin texting Ferb on his cellphone again, until Friday evening when he returned from school.

Linda looked out the living room window and grinned when she noticed her husband's car park in the driveway that evening at five. Candace and Jeremy had accompanied him to the hospital in order to help him gather his son's things. Linda had remained home to await her parents and finish preparing dinner—she wanted to make it an extra special meal for the return of her stepson and so invited her parents over to celebrate with them. Clyde and Betty-Jo arrived an hour before Lawrence returned, in order to help their daughter with dinner.

Linda's parents ran excitedly out of the living room when Linda opened the front door and allowed the four arrivals to step in. With a smile, she then turned and looked at the stairs. "Phineas!" she called out as loudly as she could. "Guess who's hooo-ooome!"

There was a loud _thud _upstairs, as though someone was jumping off of a bed, and then hasty, thunderous steps followed down the hallway up to the stairs. _Boom-boom-boom-boom_ came each descending step until Phineas leaped into view and dashed into the entrance with a wide grin. "FERB!" he cried out.

Ferb had just entered the house when his stepbrother came clambering down the stairs. He smiled happily and let go of his crutches in order to embrace Phineas when the fifteen-year-old ran up to him. Lawrence and Jeremy caught the crutches as they fell.

"Man, you don't know _how _happy I am to have you back home, Ferb!" Phineas exclaimed. "Doing things every day just wasn't the same without you."

Ferb held him tightly, as though it had been the very first time he had ever held his brother that long before. He did not bother saying anything, knowing that Phineas could already understand what he was thinking.

And he could. Phineas leaned back and chuckled. "I suspect the hospital wasn't all fun and games either, huh?" he teased.

Ferb shook his head quickly, making the others laugh. "But the view was beautiful," he replied. Playfully punching Phineas with his right fist, he added, "Though you waited long enough to pull that off, you know."

"I had a moment of doubt, that's all," Phineas said while rubbing his shoulder. Baring his teeth in a smile, he added, "But I'm back to normal now, aren't I?"

"Yes, after a long crack."

Phineas frowned in irritation at this comment, making his family laugh even harder. "I did not _crack!"_ he exclaimed. "I don't know where you and the others even _get _that term!" He crossed his arms stubbornly. "It's called a _moment of self-doubt and fear, _thank you very much."

Ferb rolled his eyes amusingly and placed an arm around Phineas again. Phineas's frown disappeared and he smiled again, hugging Ferb as well. "But I did miss you," he said. "And I'm glad you're back, Ferb."

"Likewise," Ferb replied with a wink.

Linda placed her arms around both boys and kissed their cheeks. "And your father and I are _very _proud on how you two managed to wade through this hard week and a half," she said as Lawrence rubbed Ferb's head. "Ferb in the hospital and Phineas stuck in his fears; you two pulled out nicely, I'd say."

"Spot on," Lawrence agreed. "The bravest of the brave, at least for a fifteen-year-old and sixteen-year-old."

Clyde and Betty-Jo moved in to hug both grandchildren and then turned their attention to Ferb. Although Ferb never really had much of a chance to speak, given that the Flynns spoke more or less _for _him, he did comply and allow his grandparents to move him to the living room while Linda finished dinner. Jeremy and Lawrence went upstairs to put Ferb's things away.

Phineas watched on the sidelines, happy not to be the one surrounded by the attention. He knew Ferb would not get a chance to speak to him again until after dinner, but he did not mind. The only time Ferb was able to shoot him a glance as his grandparents sat him down was when he wondered where Perry was. Phineas had recognized the stare; Ferb raised his eyebrows and shrugged questioningly.

Phineas grinned, shrugged in reply and then nodded towards the outdoors, indicating that the platypus was probably still out doing something "Secret Agent P". Ferb would have nodded in reply but Clyde and Betty-Jo began to ask him more questions.

Phineas could not help but choke on a laugh until a hand settled down on his shoulder. "Phineas," a voice whispered. He turned his head and watched as Candace nodded hers in the direction of the basement. "Come here for a sec," she added before walking off.

Curious, her little brother complied.

* * *

Candace turned on the light and looked about. There was nothing much in the basement save the washing and drying machines, the furnace, the water tank and several boxes filled with old antiques and such that Linda and Lawrence were planning on eventually moving to their store. Once upon a time, when she had been very young, this place had been filled with old gadgets her biological father had once built, along with several of his tools and parts he found around town. These, however, had been either packed away as memories in Linda's room, sold to families who needed contraptions like those, or simply tossed out by the woman herself. Only the tools remained. They had become an emergency pack in case Ferb's toolbox ever went missing.

Candace inhaled deeply and sighed as though she had been holding her breath for a long period of time. A small grin appeared when memories flooded back.

The sound of footsteps descending the rickety set of stairs told her that her brother had arrived. Turning around, Candace found Phineas walking down while trailing his hands over the railing. He looked about. "Why are we in the basement, Candace?" he wondered. "I thought you said this place was boring, not to mention damp and cold." He stopped in his tracks at the bottom of the stairs and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hm. Maybe that's something Ferb and I could fix once that cast of his is off… I always _did _find this place needed a spark of life…"

Candace rolled her eyes amusingly. "You _always _thought _everything _needed more life to it," she pointed out.

"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Phineas replied with a shrug. "People nowadays make life so _dull._ Why else am I spending my time finding ways to make it better?"

His sister only shook her head before looking at her brother again. "The reason I wanted to come down here was because I had something I needed to say to you in private," she said. "Someone would obviously eavesdrop if I said it anywhere else, and it was important that no one but you hears it."

Phineas seemed intrigued now. Curiously, he tilted his head to one side as if examining his sister.

Candace grinned in reply. "I'll admit, Phineas; there was a moment on Saturday where I thought you wouldn't follow in on my challenge," she said. "But then this majorly huge flying star started shooting around outside the hospital, drawing a picture of Ferb with glitter that looked like fireworks…" She smiled amusingly. "Though it impressed me and I'm not going to bother telling Mom, since I was the one who asked you to do it, I'm still going to say that it was _really _weird."

Phineas chuckled. "Let's just say an inventor once told me that I should share my creations," he replied. "No matter how big or small or _weird_ they are."

"Just out of curiosity, what happened to that thing afterwards? You know, how all of those inventions just disappear? What happened to this one? Did Mom ever—!"

Phineas laughed nervously at this and rubbed his hand. "Uuuhhhh, that was actually _my _fault this time," he said. With a wry smile and a shrug, he added, "I kinda landed wobbly and smashed it."

His sister threw her head back and laughed. "You _still _haven't learned how to land?" she teased. "Didn't you and Ferb learn that lesson back when you were ten years old?"

"I can't help it; my excitement got the better of me and I forgot to pull out the landing gear. I've still got the blueprints, if that counts."

Candace didn't laugh, but she did smile amusingly. "Anyway," she said, looking at her hands which were situated behind her back. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm really proud of what you did for Ferb, Phineas. And to show you just how proud I really am this time…" She pulled her hands out and brought with them a little wooden red box with golden designs and lock on it. Looking at her brother again, she added, "… I wanted to give you this."

Phineas stared at the box for only a split second before widening his eyes in amazement and laughing. "Oh, my _gosh!_" he exclaimed. He ran up to Candace and grabbed the box, holding it up to eye level. "Oh-ho, my _gosh!_ It's Dad's old Tinker Box! The one he kept all of his favourite parts and tools inside!" Grabbing the tiny key that Candace handed to him afterwards, Phineas unlocked the box and opened it.

His eyes sparkled as his smile grew. "And everything is still _in _here!" he added excitedly, going through the little drawers with his fingers. "His mini tools that he used to make all those tiny models, the end of that blue pencil he used to sketch everything, the gold leaves he found in the streets downtown, the parts he never wanted Mom to touch or toss out, that mini race car, that photo of you and me eating icecream, _everything!_ I can't _believe _it! It's like it was never touched since he last opened it!" He closed the box and tilted it upside down while laughing. "And there's that carving he did of our faces on the bottom! And the date he did it!" He looked up at Candace with a wide smile. "He never let _anyone _touch this box! He never even let _me _touch it! How the heck did you get this, Candace? I thought Mom had tossed it out with most of the other junk he had in his old study!"

"She _did _toss everything out," Candace replied with a nod. After a moment of silence, her smile diminished a little. "But that box was never in that room, Phineas; it was in mine."

Phineas did not reply. He simply waited for an answer.

"A few weeks before the accident, Dad gave me the Tinker Box," Candace explained. "He said he didn't really _need _it anymore, so he wanted me to keep it… to give it to you when you were old enough and ready." She looked at the box and played with the tiny lock. "I'll admit it, Phin; I was really jealous. I loved that box just as much as you did. I mean, he had it even before I was born. I got mad at him and told him that I wanted to keep it, that you would only empty it and fill it with boy stuff like bugs and dirt…"

When she looked at Phineas, the teenager was still staring at her with the compassionate blue eyes she had known for nineteen years. Candace tapped the box. "Then he asked me what I would do with it if he gave it to me," she went on. "I told him that I wasn't sure; that I'd probably put away and keep it to remember him by." She grinned very weakly. "You know what he said? He said, 'A Tinker Box isn't meant to be put away like a memory; it's meant to be used and reused and reused until it falls apart. That's why it's called a Tinker Box. You tinker with it.'"

Candace rubbed Phineas' head. "Because you had openly announced to us that you were going to be an inventor one day, Dad wanted you to have the Tinker Box," she said. "He knew you'd used it the way he did. He didn't even care if you would toss out the things he put in there. He just knew that you should have it, and because he knew Mom would probably toss it out, thinking it was junk, he told me to keep it safe until _I_ thought you were old enough for it." She smiled warmly. "Though you were probably old enough to have it when you and Ferb started doing all those crazy stunts, I was too annoyed with you guys to even think of giving you the box back then. But now, after what you did for Ferb…" She nodded. "I figured you were ready to have it."

Candace placed her hands on the box and gently pushed it towards Phineas' chest. "So now it's yours, Phineas," she said. "You can do whatever you want with it."

Phineas stared at her in silence before looking down at the box again. His smile had disappeared several minutes ago as he now studied the Tinker Box with more intensity and seriousness. This was no mere box. It was a Tinker Box, an inventor's greatest tool. It was where they stored their ideas if a sketch book wasn't nearby.

He waited a moment and turned the box over again. He did not study the carving in the wood beneath it; he studied the signature in the corner, done with a marker. Although he could hardly read it, he knew who's name it was.

_Francis Flynn._ The inventor who had once owned this Tinker Box.

And now it was his. Phineas Flynn. The box had been officially passed down to him.

Phineas studied the signature a little longer before turning the box right side up again. His eyes glazed over. "I… never really considered…" His voice faltered as he spoke. Fighting to gain control but failing miserably, Phineas tightened his lips together and stroked the box with his thumbs. "It might sound weird, but… I… After this past week, I…" Tears filled his eyes. "I just realized how much I miss him," he finished shakily.

Candace grinned compassionately and gently placed her arms around her little brother. Phineas wrapped his around her waist and buried his face in her sweater.

"Last time I checked, it was okay to miss your biological father," she said softly as her brother quietly began to cry. "I'm sure even Mom still misses him sometimes. But we've all done a pretty good job at moving forward, just like you always say you do, and I'm pretty sure that that would be the best thing Dad would have wanted for us. Besides; if he had never died, we wouldn't have the dad we have now, or even Ferb for that matter. That's got to count for something, right?"

She felt Phineas nod his head but did not hear him reply. Candace closed her eyes. "Dad would have been proud of what you did for Ferb, Phineas," she whispered. "He probably would have been proud of everything you two did for the past five years… Just as much as I'm proud of the things you two do."

They both fell silent for several seconds. Phineas stopped crying and wiped his eyes, but he did not feel like removing his arms from around his sister. It did not happen very often that Candace hugged him like that, and he wanted to cherish the moment for as long as he could.

Which, to his surprise, ended incredibly quickly. All of a sudden, Candace removed her arms from around him, placed them on his shoulders and yanked him away in order to look at him in the eye. Phineas bolted upright in surprise and stared back at her.

Candace, now wearing a furious frown, bared her teeth while pointing a menacing finger at him. "But if you _EVER_ stuff another goo-gun into my bag and stain my clothes again, I will _personally_ kick your little tooshie all the way to Timbuktu, Phineas Flynn!" she snapped angrily.

Phineas raised his eyebrows in shock before immediately baring his teeth in a wide grin.

"Oh, don't you start that trick!" Candace scolded. "I won't fall for your cute innocence like Mom always does! Not this time!" She pointed at her hair. "Do you know just how long it took me to get all of that goo out of my _hair?"_

Phineas snickered. "You should have been more specific when you said you wanted something to remember me by, Candace," he giggled. "_I _thought you meant a memorabilia."

"An automatic goo-gun is _not _a memorabilia, you Twit!"

"Could have fooled me."

Candace groaned and grabbed a water spray bottle that her mother often left downstairs to feed the few plants she kept on the window sills. Holding it up, she squirted it in her brother's face.

Phineas laughed hysterically and ran to another part of the basement. Candace followed him, squirting him as she went, and only stopped when her brother blew a great amount of dust in her face from one of the bookshelves stored at the back of the room. Candace cried out in shock and disgust, which only made Phineas laugh harder and dash off.

"PHINEAS!" Candace screamed, giving him chase again.

"Lighten up, I didn't do any harm!" Phineas laughed.

"Two-timer, goody-two-shoes! Gimme that Tinker Box back!"

"Beautiful, dotting, nineteen-year-old sister of mine! Oh, how I love thee!"

That only made his sister yell for a moment longer before finally bursting into laughter. As Phineas turned and raced up the stairs, he accidentally lost his footing on the crooked steps and slipped, managing to keep himself and the Tinker Box mostly unharmed.

"Poetic Clutz!" Candace laughed as she raced up the stairs. Phineas had managed to get back up moments before she had reached his foot, but it was close enough for Candace to squirt him in the face again. Phineas shoved her back in order to open the door and dash out, but his sister grabbed his leg and caused him to trip onto the floor with a surprised yelp.

"What in the world are you two _doing?"_ Linda shouted from the kitchen.

Phineas only giggled in reply and got on all fours to crawl hastily away. Candace closed the basement door behind her and leaped onto him with a cry. "He blew dust in my face!" she exclaimed, trying to sound upset.

"She said she was proud of me!" Phineas added, making the family in the living laugh.

"Can't you just say something nasty about me just _once?"_

"I love you too!"

Linda would have ordered them to stop acting like children, but when she noticed the little red box sitting on the floor nearby where Phineas had dropped it, she refrained herself from doing so and smiled.

"Insult me, you optimistic Dork!" Candace snapped, managing to sit down on top of Phineas' stomach and pinning him to the floor.

All her brother did was reach up and kiss her cheek, resulting in having even Ferb laugh.

Linda picked up the Tinker Box and held it up to her eyes while Phineas pushed Candace off of him and rose to his feet. The two of them bowed goofily as their grandparents, father, stepbrother and Jeremy began to clap while laughing. Candace sprayed Phineas once more before walking into the living room and taking a seat next to her fiancé.

"Oh, there you are, Perry!" Phineas exclaimed as he grabbed the platypus when it walked around the corner. Taking a seat on the carpet in front of his father and stepbrother, Phineas began telling Ferb what had happened since his accident.

Linda rolled her eyes amusingly and set the box down on the table where her son normally sat for dinner. "I'll let it pass this once," she muttered to herself.

She never thought once of tossing the Tinker Box out.


End file.
